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POPULATION.
According to the estimate of the Registrar-General the
population on the 30th June, 1936, was 64,110, an increase of
1,450 over the previous year. This is the largest increase
for several years, but for several reasons 1 am of the opinion
that the population is still under-estimated, and that the
figure for mid-year 1936 should have been approximately
65,500.
The natural increase, i.e., the excess of live births over
deaths, was 190, which is the highest for many years.
BIRTHS.
The number of live births registered during 1936 was
833, an increase of 26 over the previous year. This gives
a birth-rate of 12.99 Per 1,000 of the population as compared
with 12.88 in 1935 and a rate of 14.8 for England and Wales.
This is the highest number of births since 1921, and the
highest birth-rate recorded since 1931. This is one of the
reasons which lead me to think that the population is larger
than the official estimate.
A remarkable feature about the births for 1936 is that
girls outnumber the boys by 430 to 403. The average proportion
of male to female births for England and Wales over
many years is 1,040 to 1,000, but the proportion in Finchley
in 1936 is 937 males to 1,000 females. It is to be hoped that
this state of affairs, which has never happened in Finchley
before, is merely accidental and does not indicate that the
males are now losing even at birth the numerical superiority
which in the past they have enjoyed for the first few months
of life.
Thirty-six illegitimate births were registered as compared
with 35 in 1935.
The number of still-births registered was 25, giving a
rate of 29 per 1,000 of all births.
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