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Report of the Medical Officer of Health. 11
average; while for England and Wales the rate was 26.3 per
1,000, compared with 27,0 in 1906, 27.2 in 1905, and 28.4 the
decennial average.
The rate of natural increase, or the excess of births over
deaths, was 11.30 per 1,000, compared with 11.59 in 1906, and
12 50 in 1905. This rate was lowest in Putney, viz.:—6.12, and
highest in Tooting, viz:—18.13.
Compared with the decennial average there has been a fall
in the crude birth-rate of over 12 per cent., but as the changes in
the age and sex population have been marked, it is therefore
necessary to calculate the proportion of births to the number of
possible mothers, or the total number of women living in the
Borough at ages 15 to 45.
In 1901 this rate was 88. per 1,000, and in 1907 it had fallen
to 74, while for the whole of London the rate for 1900-1902 was
105.8, and in 1906, 97.5.
The legitimate birth-rate, calculated on the married female
population, was in 1901, 215 per 1,000, and in 1907, 173, and for
the whole of London 209.3 in 1906.
The Registrar General in his report for 1906 states that "20
per cent. of the decline in the birth-rate is due to the decrease in
the proportion of married women in the female population of
conceptive age, and over 5 per cent. is due to the decrease of
illegitimacy. With regard to the remaining 75 per cent. of the
decrease, although some of the reduced fertility may be ascribed
to changes in the age constitution of married women, there can be
little doubt that much of it is due to deliberate restriction of
child-bearing."
186 births occurred in the Workhouse, nine of these belonging
to Clapham, six to Putney, 23 to Streatham, 13 to Tooting,
39 to Wandsworth, 77 to Battersea, and 19 to other places.
Of these 186 births 117 were illegitimate, and of these six
belonged to Clapham, five to Putney, 16 to Streatham, 10 to
Tooting, 19 to Wandsworth, 47 to Battersea, and 14 to other
places.