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The gross total number of births was 1,248, i.e., 627 boys, 621 girls; of
these, 102 49 boys, 53 girls) were illegitimate. The gross total number of
deaths was 1,257, i.e., 680 males, 577 females. You will therefore perceive
that on these figures is based an nnique record for Edmonton, viz., the gross
total of deaths exceeds that of the births by nine.
The total number of deaths registered in Edmonton for the year exceeded
the number of births in no less than 22 out of the 52 weeks. In six weeks of
the year during the epidemic of influenza, the deaths resulting from this
disease exceeded the number of births registered.
The 1,596 persons at the military hospital, and 2,000 in the two camps,
are not dealt with by my statistics, gross or nett.
The natural increase of the population, that is the excess of the nett total
of births over the nett total of deaths was 1,196, minus 905, equals 291. The
figure was 635 last year.
The area of the district is 3,894 acres (less 31 of water), and the density
of the population, or the average number of persons per acre of land, is 19.4.
This figure is calculated on the grass population, which includes the average
populations of Edmonton Workhouse and Old Infirmary, and the Epileptic
Colony, and amounts to 74,914. The patients, nurses, medical men, orderlies,
etc., at the Military Hospital, are excluded; so are those in the two camps
of the Royal Air Force.
In the Edmonton Workhouse and Old Infirmary there were estimated to
be 429 persons, of whom 98 were Edmonton Residents.
In the Epileptic Colony, where the inmates are admitted from central
London areas, mainly the metropolitan boroughs, there was estimated to be
an average population of 253 persons, including 10 on the resident staff. During
1918 there were 28 deaths but no births.
STATISTICS OF REGISTRAR GENERAL.
The following rates are provisional. The marriage rate for England and
Wales for 1918 was 15.3; the highest on record was 19.4 per 1,000, in 1915.
The birth-rate, 17.7, is the same as last year, and is the lowest on record; the
death-rate at 17.6 is 3.2 higher than in 1917 and 3.8 higher than in 1913, which
was the lowest on record. The infantile death-rate, at 97 per 1,000 births,
is the same as last year; the lowest record is 91 in 1916. The natural increase
in the population of England and Wales, or the excess of births over deaths,
is 50,782, or 236,882 less than the average of the preceding five years.
BIRTHS.
The number of births registered by the Edmonton Registrar, Mr. W. H.
Miller, was 1,248 (627 boys and 621 girls), which includes 17 births that took
place in the Edmonton Workhouse born of mothers belonging to Edmonton.
The figures for 1917-16-15 were 1,376, 1,708 and 1,725. Fifty-five births born