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furnishing an exact basis of calculation, less by 80,000 than before the war. How then is the scarcity
of accommodation in London even early last year to be accounted for ? The cessation of building
operations during the war, doubtless, accounts for much of this scarcity, but part may be due to the
increase in the number of marriages in London during the war, there being about 17,000 more in the
four years 1915-18 than in 1911-1914. These marriages involved the creation of separate establishments
either immediately or as demobilisation proceeded, and this at a time when no new accommodation
was being provided. The high marriage rate of war-time is still, with demobilisation, being
maintained during 1919.
Marriages.
The marriages registered in London in 1919 numbered 50,222 as compared with 42,893 in 1918 ;
more marriages were celebrated in London last year than in any previous year with the exception of
1915. The number of marriages in the first quarter was not much above the average of recent years ;
the subsequent increase was doubtless associated with the progress of demobilisation.
The marriage rate for 1919 is estimated at 22, as compared with 19, 17, 19 and 26 in years back
to 1915. In 1919, as in 1915, there were undoubtedly a number of marriages of non-Londoners
celebrated in London, but the number of these non-residents cannot be ascertained.
There has been a marked increase in the London marriage-rate since 1909, as will be seen from
the diagram facing this page. The number of marriages in the five years 1910-14 was 206,421,
as compared with 234,694 in the five years 1915-19.
Births.
The births in London during 1919 numbered 82,525, as compared with 70,976 in 1918, and a
yearly average of 110,951 during the pre-war period 1911-14. The Registrar-General estimates the
birth rate at 18'2 per 1,000 of the total population.
The movement of the birth-rate during the year was remarkable ; for while in the first quarter
the births were lower than in any quarter since the beginning of the war, in the closing weeks of 1919
births were being registered at a rate in excess of all previous records. The increase has been maintained
in 1920, and in the first quarter of the year 36,303 births have been registered, this giving an estimated
birth-rate of 32 per 1,000.
The actual number of births registered in London increased continuously up to the commencement
of the eighties and remained practically constant until about 1900 ; the annual average during
this period was some 132,500. By 1911 the figure had fallen to about 110,000, and this number was
maintained up to the time of the war. The increase in marriages, in conjunction with the decline in
the outward movement of the population referred to above, served to arrest the decline in the total
births; had the war not intervened these factors might probably have operated to keep the births at
about this level during recent years. On this assumption the loss in births caused by the war up to the
end of 1919 would have amounted to 114,496.
Deaths.
The deaths among the civil population of London during 1919 numbered 59,114 as compared
with 75,928 in 1918. The Registrar-General gives the death-rate as 13*6, the corresponding rates in
vears back to 1916 beins 19'2, 15 7 and 14*6.

Infant
mortality.