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REPORT
OF THE
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR THE
METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF STEPNEY
FOR THE YEAR 1925.
Public Health Department,
43, White Horse Street,
May, 1926.
To the Mayor, Aldeimen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Stepney.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present to you my twenty-fifth Annual Report upon
the Vital Statistics and Sanitary condition of the Borough for the year 1925.
Before proceeding to a detailed description for the year, I beg to call
your attention to the Memorandum issued by the Ministry of Health, which
suggests that the present report shall contain a section dealing with the
progress made during the past five years.
(1) Population. -According to the Census taken in 1921, the population
had declined nearly fifty thousand in twenty years. This was due to a large
extent to the conversion of dwelling-houses into flats, business premises, and
rooms in dwelling-houses into workshops. The greatest reduction has been
in that part of the Borough bordering on the City. It is estimated, however,
that the population has slightly increased since 1921, due to overcrowding,
which undoubtedly exists to a greater extent than in 1921.
(2) Births.—There has been a gradual decline in the birth-rate throughout
the whole Borough, which is equally true of the whole country. In 1925,
the birth-rate was the lowest on record, not only throughout the Borough as
a whole, but in each part of it.
In the Limehouse District (Limehouse, Ratcliff, Shadwell and Wapping)
in 1921, and for thirty years previous to it, the birth-rate had not been below
32 per 1,000 of the population. Since 1921 it has been below 30 per 1,000,
although it is much higher than in any other part of the Borough.