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13
Vital Statistics.
Births.
The number of births which took place in the Borough was
1,831. This figure includes 290 non-residents who were born
in Institutions. 2,121 births of Borough residents occurred outside
the Borough. The corrected number of births was therefore
3,662. This is a reduction of 404 on the number for 1939 which
was 4,066.
In spite of this fall in the number of births the birth-rate
has to be recorded as having increased from 11.92 in 1938 and
11.99 in 1939 to 13.49. The reason for this is that the rate is
calculated on a much smaller population.
The rate for the whole of London for 1940 was 13-7 and for
England and Wales, 14.6.
The number of illegitimate births was 150, compared with
218 in 1939.
Of the 1,831 births which took place in the Borough, 1,691
or 92.35 per cent, were notified under the Public Health (London)
Act, 1936. 1,499 of these notifications were transmitted by
midwives, 114 by medical attendants, 67 by parents and 11 by
other persons.
Deaths.
The number of deaths which took place in the Borough
during the year was 3,803, but 1,432 of these did not belong to
the Borough, while 2,219 Borough residents died outside the
Borough. The corrected number of deaths for the Borough,
after allowing for these factors, was 4,590, of whom 2,269 were
males and 2,321 females.
In 1939 there were 3,774 deaths, so that the number of deaths
has increased by 816 over the previous year. The major portion
of this increase is accounted for by deaths from enemy action,
exactly 500 Borough residents having died from this cause during
the year. The number of persons who died from diseases of the
respiratory system has increased by 125, and there have been
47 more deaths from cancer and 21 more from tuberculosis.