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CHAPTER V.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY.
In presenting this report twenty-one years after the incorporation
of the Borough the opportunity has been taken to highlight certain
facets of the Department's work during this time. This chapter by
no means represents a survey but rather notes on some of the more
important changes effected during the period.
+POPULATION.
In the last twenty-one years the population of Wembley has
shown a gradual trend of increase. The mid-year estimated population
in 1937 was 114,700 and this increased steadily until the period
immediately following the War when, in 1951, for the first time a
slight decrease in population was noted. The maximum population
achieved was the mid-year estimated population for 1950 at 132,700,
but the census population showed a figure of 131,384 and this probably
represents the maximum population achieved in the town.
Since 1950 a gradual fall in population has resulted in the mid-year
estimated population for 1958 being 126,800.
This population trend is representative of the outer suburbs and
it is probable that the stabilised population of the town will eventually
rest at a figure of somewhere around 125/126,000. The comparability
factors provided by the Registrar-General, which are used to
relate local vital statistics to the national average has remained somewhere
between 1.10 and 1.28 which indicates that the age group of
the population was not seriously different from the national average.
BIRTHS.
The birth rate during the last twenty-one years has shown a
substantial fall with only slight intermittent increases. In 1937 the
number of births in the town was 1,934, giving a birth rate per
thousand of 39.81. This was a year in which the birth rate was
rather greater than the average for that period. The rate, apart from
a peak in the Wartime years, has fallen consistently and has now
reached what appears to be a fairly stabilised level at 11 to 12 per
thousand of the population.
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