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APPENDIX A
FACTS AND FIGURES FROM THE 1961 CENSUS
Publication of the 1961 Census Report for the County of London provides an opportunity
to review the facts and figures that form the basis of the rates and indices which
appear in the annual report of a Medical Officer of Health, as well as providing some data
on the manifold social characteristics of the population.
The census in this country is on a de facto basis and relates to persons present on census
night, 23/24 April. This means that the population figures quoted are reduced by the
number of London residents absent from their homes on census night and increased by
the number of visitors to London. Adjustment of these figures will not be possible until
publication of the Report on Usual Residence; information as to occupation, work place
and migration (which was on a 10 per cent, sample basis) will not be available until
publication of that report.
Population
Table (i) is a summary of the age and sex constitution of the population of London A.C.
(with the exception of North Woolwich the area proposed for the twelve inner boroughs
of the Greater London Council and the City of London) for the year 1961 with corresponding
figures from the two previous censuses of 1931 and 1951 (there was no census in 1941—
the only break in the decennial series since 1801) and a comparison of proportions with
England and Wales for 1961.
The 1931 population of 4,397,000 fell to a post-war figure in 1951 of 3,348,000 and in
the ten years since there has been a gradual average annual decline of 0.45 per cent. per
year to 3,200,000 in 1961. Figure 1 on page 121 depicts this change by age and sex over the
ten years 1951-61. The main changes are fewer children of infant age (0-4 years) and
fewer persons in the age group 25-44 years with more young men and women age 15-24
years, 225,000 young men compared with 188,000 and 244,000 young women compared
with 230,000 in 1951. Part of these changes is brought about simply by the passage of time,
e.g. the survivors of the post-war 'bulge' having moved into the 5—14 and early 15-24
years age groups; part is due to the multiple action of slight fluctuations in the death rate,
the fall until 1955 and subsequent rise in the birth rate and, overshadowing the rest
during the whole of the decade, net outward migration. As is evident from the diagram,
parents and young children have moved out and there has been an influx of young people
into London. This pattern of migration has been common in London for three and a half
centuries and is the main reason for the fact that in comparison with England and Wales
the London population contains proportionately fewer children and more adults age
15-44 years.
Details of the 1961 population (total persons) for the metropolitan boroughs within the
county are shown in table A.(i) in the annex; table A.(ii) gives more detail of persons of
pensionable age together with a very useful statistic of the number living alone (13.4 per
cent, males and 29.4 per cent. females). Table A.(iv) gives a borough comparison of 1951
with 1961 and the percentage change on an annual basis: only four boroughs, Kensington,
Hampstead, Stoke Newington and Wandsworth, showed gains in population. Proportionately,
the net loss in population has been greatest in the boroughs of St. Pancras, Westminster,
Holborn, Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, Bermondsey, Southwark and Battersea
(excluding the City of London). The column 'by births and deaths' shows the proportionate
change arising from the interaction of these two factors—the natural increase or
decrease; in only three boroughs, St. Marylebone, Holborn and Wandsworth and in the
City of London did deaths exceed births. During the decade, therefore, the average annual
rate of net outward migration is arrived at by subtracting from the net loss the natural
increase—thus for the county net outward migration becomes 0.90 offset by a natural
increase of 0.46, leaving a residual net loss of 0.45.
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