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5
POPULATION.
The census returns of 1901 showed that in this District
the number of inhabitants to each occupied house averaged
from 5.1 to 5.3, according to the locality. Taking this as the
basis of calculation, the population at Midsummer, 1906, was
25,500, an increase of 3,100 over that of the previous year.
This is a smaller increase by 300 than that of the
previous year, due to the fact that a somewhat less number
of new houses were erected and occupied than in the previous
year, which was a record in this respect.
As the number of houses are now apportioned to each
ward instead of to each locality, it is difficult to get data for
the separate localities as hitherto, and as they are gradually
becoming merged one into the other, and so losing their
distinctive characteristics, there is little or no importance in
continuing to do so ; and as the wards correspond roughly
with the localities, there is no useful purpose to be served in
getting out separate statistics for each separate ward. On the
other hand, data for North and South Southgate are easily and
conveniently obtainable, and as the District falls naturally
into these two dsvisions, each with its own (up to the present)
distinct characteristics, it is better for statistical purposes to
deal with it in this way.
The population of North Southgate was 8,700, whilst
that of South Southgate was 16,800.
The natural increase of the population by excess of
births over deaths was 286, exactly the same as that of the
previous year.
BIRTHS.—BIRTH=RATE.
During the year 562 births were registered, an increase
of 100 on the preceding year. This gives a birth-rate of 22.0
per 1,000 of the population, an increase of 1.4 per 1,000 on
the preceding year, which was the lowest on record for this
district.
The average rate for the 10 years 1896 to 1905 was 23'4.
The birth-rate for North Southgate was 20.9, and that for
South Southgate 22.6.
The birth-rate in England and Wales in 1906 was 27.0
per 1,000 of the population, which is 0.2 below the rate for
the previous year, and lower than the rate in any other year
on record; compared with the average in the previous 10
years, the birth-rate in 1906 shows a decrease of 1.7.