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7
GENERAL.—Bromley, which is one of the Dormitory
Towns within ten miles of London City, covers an area of
4,696 acres. It is 200 feet above sea level, mainly on gravel
soil, and abounds in delightfully situated and permanent open
spaces and playing fields—all important factors in making
Bromley an attractive and healthy town. Its rateable value
is £291,421, and the penny rate equals £1,184.
POPULATION.—The Registrar-General returns a
figure for the middle of 1925 of 35,440. This figure is only
210 above the figure for 1924, but exceeds the census figure
for 1921 by 630. Consideration of local circumstances leads
one to believe the Registrar-General's figure for 1925 is
under-estimated, but as in past years the tendency has been
to over-estimate the population between intercensal periods,
the acceptance of the Registrar-General's figure is undoubtedly
the only figure to consider in the calculation of the vital
statistics. On this point the lowest death rates recorded in
Bromley were during the period 1906 to 1910 (viz., 9.8), a
period during which the population figure was considerablyover-estimated—hence
the low death rate which is always
calculated per 1,000 of the population.
With the Downham Estate in being, the population
figure for the coming year will increase by approximately
4,000. This large influx of population from London will be
a serious factor in our future vital statistics, and our future
health policy.
One interesting fact in the consideration of population
since the census of 1901 is that persons below 35 years of age
have decreased in numbers, and persons over 35 have
markedly increased—no small factor in comparison of death
rates during the past twenty-five years. This is partly
explained by the falling birth rate during these years, the
greater tendency of London residents to retire to Bromley,
and also by the fact that people to-day live longer by at least