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8
THE CENSUS OP 1901.
Prom the Public Health standpoint the Census of 1901 was an
all important event. Without such periodical reckonings of our
gains and losses vital statistics would possess relatively little value ;
but even a decennial enumeration admits of numerous inaccuracies
creeping in toward the end of the decade. The obvious and easily
applied remedy for these discrepancies is the institution of a
Quinquennial Census, which would spare us the anomaly of a
Government Department being obliged to publish death-rates known
to be more or less inexact. Although the rate of increase in England
and Wales for the past decade amounted to 12.17%, as against an
increase of 11.65% in the previous decade, and although the increase
is numerically in excess of that recorded previously, we are face to
face with the fact that the percentage of increase was less than that
for any decade during the last century, save those ending in 1861
and 1891. While the mean annual death-rate has steadily declined
since 1861-71, the birth-rate has declined still more rapidly since
1871-81. One explanation of the reason why the increase was
somewhat greater than had been anticipated is to be found in the
increased amount of immigration, but the chief reason appears to be
the marked decrease in the outflow of the population by emigration.
So far as London is concerned, the Census shows a decrease in the
rate of growth of the population compared with that which prevailed
during the earlier decade of the century. In Greater London, however
(namely, the area included within the Metropolitan and City
Police Districts), the population has increased during the last
10 years by little short of a million, and it is into the outer zone that
much of the displaced population of central London has migrated.
In London, as a whole, the total number of separate tenements has
increased since the previous census by 8.7%, but whilst the tenements
containing more than 5 rooms have increased by 13%, the increase of
those with less than 5 rooms has been only 6.6%. The reduction in
the similar class of tenements is most marked in the tenement of the