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6
The excess of births over deaths is known as the "natural increase"
in the population, but the accuracy of this method obviously rests
upon the absence of any marked difference between the immigration
and emigration associated with the district concerned. In Acton,
emigration and immigration profoundly affect the population, and
any estimate based upon the natural increase of the population
would be entirely worthless.
It will thus be observed that after a certain period has elapsed
since the census was taken all methods of estimating the population
are liable to error. On the whole, for this district, the most reliable
is the one based upon the number of houses built in each year.
As a rule, the birth-rate serves as a means of checking the
estimated population. Though the birth-rate is steadily declining
throughout the kingdom, it rarely shows any sudden deviation
from the normal. Based on an estimated population of 53,000,
the birth-rate last year was 29 per 1,000 inhabitants.
BIRTHS.
There were 1,535 births registered as having occurred within
the district. This number corresponds to a birth-rate of 29 per 1,000
ihabitants. Although the aggregate number of births exceeds
that recorded in any previous year, the birth-rate last year was
4 per 1,000 inhabitants less than that of 1906, and 1.6 per 1,000
less than the average for the 10 years 1897—1906. On table I. the
birth-rates for the last 10 years are given, and it will be seen that
the rate for 1907 is the lowest recorded in that period. In spite
of this fact; last year the birth-rate in Acton was 2.7 per 1,000
higher than that of England and Wales, 2 per 1,000 higher than that
of the 76 large towns, and 3.3 per 1,000 higher than that of the
142 smaller towns.
Usually, the number of male children born exceed the number
of female ones, but last year the difference was very small—772
males and 763 females.