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is known. At other times the figure is estimated. Various indications
can be obtained by applying previously existing factors to known figures
such as the number of inhabited houses, the numbers on the voter's
register and in recent years the number of persons registered with the
food office. The 1934 population of the district was 132,049. With
the large number of houses erected each year the population figure
reached 190,200 by 1939. There were fluctuations during the war years,
after which there was a steady rise to reach the figure of 222,300 in 1950.
Each year since then the number has fallen.
While most of the increase in population during the years when the
figures were increasing was due to the movement into the district of
families new to the area, part of it each year was due to the excess in
the number of births over the number of deaths. This natural increase
in population on this last occasion was 957.

The population in a growing district often has an unusual age distribution
because it is the younger families which make the move. In
the years of development of this district when the population enlarged
to four times its original size, the age distribution became abnormal.
The risk of dying varies at different ages; being high in the very early
days of life, it falls during the ages of childhood and rises with increasing
years. Changes in the age distribution then are reflected in the figure
for the death rate for the district. The Registrar-General prepares for
each district a comparability factor which allows for the effect on the
birth and the death rates of these age group changes. With the passage of
time the population will again revert to the normal age group pattern.

The age distribution of the local population at the time of the 1951
census is set out in the following table: