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31
POPULATION.
I Explanation of Graphs.
The estimated population is shown by a continuous black line
from 1860 onwards, the letter C denoting a census year. In 1860
Croydon's population was a little over 30,000; in 1931 the census
showed it to have risen to 233,115, whilst for 1936 the estimated
population is 241,739. The growth of Croydon has been rapid and
continuous; even during the war years the increase was not arrested,
whilst since the war its growth has been accelerated. Such a rapid
increase of population gives rise to its own public health problems,
in as much as facilities available do not always keep pace with the
demand, resulting in overcrowding of Clinics and a straining of the
organisation.
The estimated population as put forward by the RegistrarGeneral
shows a decrease in population of 361. It is difficult to
think that this is in fact tha case when the number of new houses
erected, and the degree of the conversion of large single dwellings
into flats, is remembered. Although there is only a slight natural
increase in the population, the actual increase is swollen by immigration
of families into the town.