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b
The live birth-rate in 1952 was 15.3 per 1,000 total population, compared with
15.6 in 1951. Births allocated to London, i.e., those of mothers residing within the
County, are less than those actually registered as occurring in the County owing to the
fact that a number of mothers come to London to be confined in hospitals and nursing
homes. This excess of registered over allocated births amounted to some 7,900 births
in 1952. The corresponding figure in 1951 was 7,700
The number of marriages registered in London in 1952 was 33,482, or 19.9 persons
married per 1,000 of the total population, compared with 20.6 in 1951.
The birth-rate in London tends to follow the same trend as for the country as a
whole. The diagram below shows the course of the two rates since 1932. The actual
rates for London are given in Table 5 (page 176).
LIVE BIRTH RATE IN ENGLAND AND WALES
AND LONDON (A.C.) 1931-1952
PER 1,000 TOTAL POPULATION
ENGLAND AND WALES LONDON (A.C.)
Although the live birth-rate per 1,000 total population in 1952 was the same in
London as in England and Wales, London's population has a greater proportion of
women of child-bearing age. If the live births be expressed as a rate per 1,000 women
aged between 15 and 45, the figure for London is 65 as compared with 71 for England
and Wales, showing London women to be substantially less fertile than the female
population as a whole. In view of the considerations brought forward in the next
paragraph, the difference in fertility is probably even greater than the figures imply.