View report page

11
Population and Houses.
The following estimate of population as supplied by the Registrar-General
has been adopted for the calculation of the death-rate and birth-rate of the
Borough for the year 1927—42,209.
The density of the population, according to the Census, 1921, was 107 persons
per acre contrasted with 60 persons per acre for the County of London.
The character of population shows wide and striking contrasts, including as it
does the occupants of expensive residential flats, the migratory population in
the large hotels, the student class in the Bloomsbury boarding houses, residents
in large commercial, social and philanthropic hostels, working class population
in model dwellings and tenement lodging houses (many of whom are very poor),
and a relatively large proportion of very poor people in common lodging houses.
Although the number of hotels and boarding houses keeps increasing, the
Borough is becoming less and less residential and more and more important as a
business centre. The number of factories, workshops, workplaces and offices
keeps increasing so that we are adding to our large and crowded day population
of London's workers.
The population in the 999 L.C.C. tenements in the Borough was estimated
at 3,490. The number of deaths was 31, a death-rate of 8.8 per 1,000, considerably
below the average death-rate for the whole of the Borough (12.5).
On the other hand the number of deaths of residents of Common Lodging
Houses in the Borough, which contain 967 beds, was 55 which, calculated on
the number of beds, was a rate of 56.9 per 1,000.
The birth-rates and death-rates given in this report are the crude rates, that
is to say no correction has been made for sex and age distribution. The population
of the borough, however, is such that probably a truer indication of the birth and
death incidence would be indicated by rates corrected for such distribution. As,
however, the Registrar-General in his summary tables and statistical review gives
crude rates only, it is thought better for comparison purposes to adopt the same
principle for this report.
The report of the Census, 1921, points out that the City of London and
Holborn stand rather apart from the other Boroughs, owing to the general unsuitability
of their dwellings for private family occupation. Here the relatively high
population of males is similar to that found in the industrial areas; but there are
fewer young children and the population is in consequence above the normal as
regards age.
Registered Births and Birth-Rate.
The total number of births registered as occurring in the Borough was 320
(165 males and 155 females). Of these, 302 were legitimate and 18 illegitimate.