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Live births— There were 71,801 live births registered in London in the year; after
correction for residence the final figure of births allocated to London was 62,524 (32,127
boys-30,397 girls), an increase of 2,472 over 1961, giving a birth rate of 19.6 per 1,000
population compared with 18-9 in 1961 and 18.0 in 1960. The post-war trend in London
followed closely that for England and Wales until 1956 when the rise in the London rate
preceded a similar rise in the country as a whole; in 1957 the two rates were again almost
identical, but since then the crude London rate has continued to exceed the national rate
by an increasing margin. The major factor contributing to the increased birth rate, both
local and national, is the increased proportion of women of child-bearing age who are
married (see Appendix A table (iii)). The two rates are not, however, strictly comparable
because the proportion of women of child-bearing age in the population is greater in
London than in England and Wales; adjusting for this difference by multiplying the crude
rate by the Registrar General's area comparability factor for London births (0.90) the rate
becomes 17.6. The crude birth rate for the past 12 years is shown in figure 1 below, together
with the national rate and the adjusted birth rate.
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