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115
POPULATION, INHABITED HOUSES, &c.
The population of Kensington, estimated to the middle of
the year was, in round numbers, 175,000 (=80 per acre);
males, 70,500, and females, 104,500: excess of females, 34,000.
The population of the Town sub-district was, approximately,
128,500, and that of the Brompton sub-district 46,500. The
natural increase during the year, represented by the excess of
births over deaths registered, was 1,069: an estimated further
increase of 431 represents the excess of immigration over
emigration: total increase, 1,500. It is always difficult to
estimate with accuracy the number of persons living in a large
and populous place still, like Kensington, in the process of
growth. The best available test, perhaps, is the number of
inhabited houses: if these show an increase, an increase in the
number of people may be inferred, and vice versa. At the
present time of writing, however, I have no reliable information
as to the number of inhabited houses as compared with previous
years since the census of 1881. Probably they were about
21,566 at the middle of the year. In places with stationary
population the birth-rate may serve as a guide in estimating the
population. But this test is of little practical avail in a parish
like Kensington, where, as we shall see, that, with a constantly
increasing population, not merely the birth-rate, but the absolute
number of births also, has constantly declined in recent
years (vide Tables I. & II. Appendix). The most remarkable
feature, however, in connection with the population of Kensington,
one, moreover, which, to a large extent, accounts for
the small and diminishing birth rate, is the inordinate excess of
females. It was thought surprising when the Census of 1871
revealed a majority of 22,00 Ofemales; the majority now probably
exceeds 34,000. Females are in excess in the population
generally; in London the excess is about 13 per cent., in
Kensington it is nearly 50 per cent.