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4
1939 13.4
1940 14.3
1941 13.5
1942 15.4
1943 16.1
1944 16.2
1945 15.7
1946 20.0
Thus it is evident that, partly as a natural consequence of the return of men
from service overseas, and partly as a result of the war-time disturbance of the normal
marriage rate associated with Service movements, the current birth-rate in London,
as elsewhere in the country, is in the region of 50-60 per cent, above the pre-war
level, but the history of the period following the 1914-18 war shows that substantial
changes can occur in a comparatively short time, and it remains to be seen whether
this rise is merely an expression of postponed reproduction or whether any political or
economic measures already taken, or likely to be taken, will succeed in sustaining
this rise.
Illegitimacy

It appears that the peak of the inevitable war-time rise occurred last year and
that the trend may now be downward.
Deaths under one year among illegitimate infants amounted to 61 per 1,000
live births, compared with a rate of 36 for legitimate births. The corresponding
rates in 1945 were 63 and 42, respectively. A detailed comparison of deaths in the
legitimate and illegitimate groups is given in table 8, page 23.
Stillbirths
There were 1,598 stillbirths in 1946, or 2-37 per cent, of all births (legitimate
2-33, illegitimate 2-81). The number of stillbirths and the rate per 1,000 total births
in each year since 1928 is shown in table 7, from which it will be clear that since 1942
there has been a considerable fall in the frequency of stillbirth. As to the reasons
for this fall no precise answer can be given. In examining the decline of 27 per cent,
in the national stillbirth rate over the period 1938-1944, Sutherland (Lancet—1946,
2, 955) suggests that better economic conditions, together with the greater nutritional
opportunity resulting from the controlled distribution and priorities, have improved
the ante-natal care of the pregnant woman and lowered the stillbirth rate.
Nutrition in pregnancy has an important effect upon both mother and infant.
Nutrition studies for example in the Rhondda and Toronto and, in particular, the
careful experiments conducted in London from 1938 by the People's League of Health
have shown that dietary supplementation, where deficiencies have previously existed,
produce striking reductions in the frequency of miscarriages, stillbirths and premature
births.
As the war progressed, the expectant mother became a nutritional priority,
and there is little doubt that, especially in the lower income groups, the attention
given to food and well-being was of great benefit to the mother and to the child. The
importance of this improved wellbeing of the mother is emphasised by the fact that
the stillbirth rate declined, while the proportion of "first maternities" (where the
risk of stillbirth is greatest) was rising and the average parity was falling. This is
illustrated by the following figures for England and Wales, taken from the RegistrarGeneral's
Statistical Review for 1942, Part II:—