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of the corresponding proportion for England and Wales. The crude birth rate for the
past 21 years is shown in the diagram (page 10) together with the national rate and,
since 1949, the adjusted birth rate : the true comparative fertility of London lies somewhere
between the lines for the crude rate and the adjusted rate.
The actual numbers and rates are given, together with those for still-births, in
Table 2 (page 230). For the years 1941 to 1949, the rates will not agree with those published
by the Registrar-General because the latter are based on the civil population
whereas those quoted are based on an estimated total population—the justification for
this divergence was given in the Report for 1947 and is briefly that births registered in
the years in question included those in respect of non-civilians and the rates would
have been inflated if fathers in the Forces had been excluded from the calculations.
Since 1950 home population has been used as a divisor and the rates shown since that
year should be reduced by 0.1 for a strict comparison with earlier years when total
population was used.
The rise in the number of births (2,345) occurred mainly in the first nine months of
the year with the peak of the rise in the second quarter (corresponding to conceptions
in the third quarter of 1955) and the birth rate has risen to the highest level since 1949.
The actual number of births was higher in that year and also in 1950 and 1951—it has
to be remembered that with a falling population (as in London) the course of the birth
rates and the numbers of births can diverge. A less pronounced rise in the birth rate
occurred in the country as a whole—a birth rate of 15.6 in 1956 compared with 15.0
in 1955, the highest since 1950. It is difficult to say whether this is the beginning of a
new trend or a random fluctuation, the fall to a post 1951 level in the fourth quarter
of the year suggests the latter but births have again risen in the first quarter of 1957,
both locally and nationallv, suggestine the former.
Marriages
The number of marriages registered in London in 1956, was 33,884 or 20.7 persons
married per 1,000 of the total population—the corresponding rates for 1955 and 1954
were 20.8 and 19.8 respectivelv.
Illegitimacy

The proportion of illegitimate births in London levelled off at about 7 per cent.
after the war but in the past two years has risen to 7.7 and 8.5 per cent. respectively.
This is doubtless an overstatement of the true illegitimate fertility rate of Londoners
because the numbers are inflated by the influx of unmarried mothers making their
way to London to bear their children in the shelter of the anonymity of a large city
and to take advantage of the facilities available therein.
Deaths under one year among illegitimate infants amounted to 25 per 1,000 illegitimate
births compared with a rate of 21 for legitimate births. The corresponding rates
for 1955 were 38 and 22 respectively. A detailed comparison of deaths in both groups
is given in Table 6 (page 234).
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