View report page

7
of the district he abnormal, there is always reason for suspecting
a mistake in the estimated population. On Table i is given the
birth rate since 1895, and based upon an estimate of 50,000,
there is only a difference of 1 per 1000 between the rate of 1905
and the decennial average.
BIRTHS.
The number of births registered during the year was
1,527, 807 males and 720 females.
This number corresponds to a birth rate of 30.5 per 1,000
inhabitants, which is 16 per cent. higher than that of 1904, and
slightly below the average rate for the ten years 1895-1904.
The above figures have been obtained by estimating the
number of births as the rate per 1,000 of the population living
at all ages. The result obtained by this method may be
described as the crude birth rate. As a means of comparison
with the birth rate of the district in former years, it is
satisfactory, unless there are strong reasons to assume that
the age constitution of the population has considerably
changed.
If the number of women living at child-bearing years
differs in the districts compared, the above method would be
useless as a basis of comparison. As a ratio of the births to
the total population, the birth rate of Acton is higher than
that of England and Wales, and even higher than it is in the
76 large towns.
But if we calculate the ratio which the births registered
bears to the women living between the ages of 15 and 45
years, the birth rate in this district is lower than it is throughout
the kingdom. If we assume that the age and sex distribution
has not altered since the Census, the births registered last year
correspond to a rate of 108 per 1,000 women living between the
ages of 15 and 45 years.