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Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
7
The birth-rate for the whole of London was 23.85 per 1,000,
compared with 24.3 in 1909, and 27.22 the decennial average;
while for England and Wales this rate was 24.8 per 1,000, compared
with 25.6 in 1909, and 27.47 the decennial average.
With regard to this rate, although, as the Registrar General
states in his Report for 1908, the crude birth-rate, i.e., the ratio of
births to population at all ages, is valuable for comparing the
rates from year to year, or for ascertaining the rate of natural
increase, yet it is not of great value for any inquiry into the
significance of the variations which occur over a period of years,
on account of the changing constitution of the population, or for
comparing the rate in different communities, on account of the
differences in age and sex distribution.
It is necessary therefore to calculate the proportion of births
to the number of possible mothers, or the total number of females
living in the Borough at ages 15 to 45 years.
In the year 1901 this rate was 88.6 per 1,000, in 1907, 74, in
1908, 73, in 1909, 69.4, and in 1910, 68.2; while for England and
Wales the rates were, in 1901, 114.2, and in 1909, 102.3.
The legitimate birth-rate, calculatcd on the married female
population was in 1901, 215 per 1,000, in 1908, 174, in 1909, 165,
and in 1910, 164; while for England and Wales it was, in 1901,
234.2, and in 1909, 209.4.
The low rates in this Borough are due to the greater proportion
of females, both married and unmarried, at ages 15.45,
compared with the whole of England and Wales, and also to the
lower birth-rate.
Although these rates are, owing to the lapse of time since the
last Census, only approximately correct, yet there is no doubt that
a very serious reduction has taken place in the birth-rate during
the last 10 years.
170 births occurred in the Workhouse during the year and of
these 10 belonged to Clapham, eight to Putney, 18 to Streatham,
11 to Tooting, 51 to Wandsworth, 64 to Battersea, and eight to
other places.