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SECTION A.
STATISTICS.
The population as estimated by the Registrar General at
the middle of 1952 was 590 less than in the previous year
in spite of there being 350 more births than deaths during
the year.
The number of inhabited houses increased by 135 during
the year to give a total of 17,463 at the end of 1952. A
recent estimate gave the number of habitable rooms throughout
the Borough as 102,550c This means that for every 100
houses there are 587 habitable rooms which are occupied by
416 persons. On mere figures therefore, with the existing
accommodation, the population could be doubled without causing
any statutory overcrowding. In fact, it is found that
there are some cases of overcrowding but they are not very
numerous and there are many cases where houses are not fully
occupied or not used to the best advantage.
The Registrar General supplies area comparability factors
which take into account the age and sex distribution of
the population so that more accurate comparisons can be
made between the birth rate and death rate of the Borough
with the rates in other parts of the country. Using these
factors the adjusted birth rate for Poplar is 16.3 as compared
with 17.6 for London and 15.3 for England and Wales.
The adjusted death rate is 13.5 as compared with 12.6 for
London and 11.3 for England and Wales,
The infant mortality rate which is the number of deaths
of children under the age of 1 year for every 1,000 live
births is 23.8 which is exactly the same figure as for
London, the figure for England and Wales being 27.6. Whilst
this is satisfactory the rate fluctuates considerably in a
comparatively small population and care should be taken in
drawing any conclusions.
9.