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11
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
Compared with the decennial average the birth-rate in all
the sub-districts, with the exception of Tooting, and also in the
whole Borough, was lower.
In Clapham it was 4.18, in Putney 3.57, in Streatham 2.86,
and in Wandsworth 4.33 lower, while in Tooting it was 2.10
higher.
The birth-rate for the whole of London was 25.82 per 1,000,
compared with 25.68 in 1907, 26.6 in 1906, 27.0 in 1905, and 28.14
the decennial average; while for England and Wales the rate was
26.5, compared with 26.3 in 1907, 27.0 in 1906, 27.2 in 1905, and
28.10 the decennial average.
The rate of natural increase, or the excess of births over
deaths was 11.98, compared with 11.30 in 1907, 11.59 in 1906, and
12.50 in 1905.
Owing to the low death-rate during the year 1908, the rate of
natural increase is higher than in the two previous years.
Compared with the decennial average there has been a fall
in the crude birth-rate of 12.2 per cent., compared with 12.27 per
cent. in 1907, 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 the year 1901 this rate was 88.6 per 1,000, while in 1907 it
was only 74, and in 1908, 73; while for the whole of London the
rate for 1906 was 97.5, and for 1907, 94.1.
The legitimate birth-rate, calculated on the married female
population was, in 1901, 215 per 1,000, and in 1908, 174; while for
the whole of London it was, in 1907, 201.7, and for the five years
1902-06, 217.2.
These rates are only approximately correct, and necessarily
so, as all estimates of sections of the population become less
reliable as the interval from the last Census increases.