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87
POPULATION, INHABITED HOUSES, &c.
The population of Kensington, estimated to the middle of
the year was, in round numbers, 177,000 (=81 per acre);
males. 71,500, and females, 105,500 : excess of females, 34,000.
The population of the Town sub-district was, approximately,
129,500, and that of the Brompton sub-district 47,500. The
natural increase during the year, represented by the excess of
births over deaths registered, was 951; an estimated further
increase of 1,049 represents the excess of immigration over
emigration: total increase, 2,000. 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 very reliable
information as to the number of inhabited houses as compared
with previous years since the census of 1881. Probably they
were about 21,000 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 it is the fact that,
with a constantly increasing population, not merely the birthrate,
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 22,000 females; the
majority now is probably not less than 34,000. Females are in
excess in the population generally; in London the excess is
about 12 or 13 per cent.; in Kensington it is nearly 50 percent.