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The death rate was highly correlated with the percentage of persons living more than
two to a room in the first three periods, but the coefficient had only just reached the
5 per cent. level of significance in 1950-52. On the other hand the death rate and persons
per room was the same for the last two triennia and only slightly below the earlier
figures. The correlation between the death rate and the proportion of the male population
in Social Classes IV and V was significant for each of the three triennia for which this
index was available and significantly larger in 1950-52 than in the earlier periods.
Birth rate
Heron (1906), from a study of the data relating to the London Boroughs, found a
negative correlation between fertility and social status. Some of the indices used were
approximate, but Mitra (1937) extended the analysis to include data for the 1931 census,
with its more accurate index of social conditions, and substantially confirmed Heron's
conclusions. The crude birth rate is influenced by the sex and age constitution of the
population, and for this reason the legitimate births per 1,000 married women aged
15-44 have been used in the present study (Table VII).

The highest birth rates were in the East End boroughs throughout the period, while
the lowest were those of Hampstead, Holborn, and Westminster in the first three
triennia, and of Fulham, St. Marylebone, and Wandsworth in 1950-52. A comparison
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