View report page

CHAPTER I.
VITAL STATISTICS.
1. The population, of the Borough mid-1946 was estimated
by the Registrar-General to be 129,850. In 1931 (the last census
date) the population of the two districts, Wembley and Kingsbury,
was 65,197; in 1936 the population had become 107,550,
while the last (December, 1946) estimate of the Registrar-General
is that the population is 133,260. Wembley is the fifth largest
County district in Middlesex, those of greater population being
according to size—Harrow, Ealing, Willesden and Hendon.
According to the recent report of the Local Government Boundary
Commission there are 309 Non-County Boroughs, the largest having
a population of 178,590 and the smallest of 876, the average
population being 29,650. The Boundary Commission further state
that the great majority of these Non-County Boroughs are among
the most effective and convenient units of Local Government.
With regard to population alone, 37 of the 83 County Boroughs
have a population of under 100,000.
2. In 1946, 2,237 live births were recorded, giving a birth
rate of 17.23 per thousand; this is the largest number of births so
far recorded to Wembley. The number of deaths was 1,042,
giving a crude death rate of 8.02 per thousand estimated population.
The infantile mortality rate was exceedingly low, the death
rate of infants per thousand live births being the record one of
26.37, the previously lowest figure having been 34.16 in 1942. In
the five years 1932-1936 the infantile mortality rate was in the
neighbourhood of 40, tending to exceed 40 (largest rate 1936—
45.14, smallest rate 1935—34.26). The corresponding figures for
the five years 1942-1946 were consistently under 38, the largest
being in 1943—37.17, the smallest this year (1946)—26.37. The
maternal mortality rate per thousand live births was 0.45. In
the five years 1932-1936 the maternal mortality rate was averaging
just over 3, largest rate 1932—5.98, smallest rate 1935—0.0 In
the five years 1942-1946 the maternal mortality rate was 1.41;
highest figure 1942—2.43, lowest figure 1946—0.45. Judged by
such criteria then, the services provided (by the Borough have
proved themselves.
3. Prematurity of birth was again the main cause of the
deaths in very young infants. Regarding the figures submitted in
the statistics on infantile mortality and on survival of premature
infants, it has to be pointed out that the figures in the former
table are those regarding births to Wembley residents whether
the birth took place in Wembley or elsewhere, whereas the figures
4