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country during the year under review amounted to 27.2 per 1000
of the population, which was 0.7 per 1,000 below the rate in
1904, and lower than any rate on record.
The 76 Great Towns for which returns are available
showed a birth rate of 28.2 per 1,000 of the population, the rates
for the three preceeding years having been 30.0, 29.7 and 29.1.
It is interesting to note the wide range in the birth rates of
various districts: e.g., Bournemouth 16.8, Hastings 17.7,
Hornsey 18.5, Halifax 19.2, Northampton 20.9, Sunderland 34.4,
Middlesborough 35.0, St. Helens 36.2, Rhondda 37.5, Merthyr
Tydfil 38.3.
In London the birth rate amounted to 27.1, or 2.2 per
1000 below the average for the past 10 years and also the
lowest on record. Here again wide variations occur according
to the districts: e.g., City of London 13.5, Hampstead 16.2,
City of Westminster 16.8, Kensington 19.3, Stoke Newington
20.5; on the other hand, Stepney 35.3, Finsbury 34.7,
Shoreditch 33.5, Bermondsey 33.3.
These figures point clearly to the fact that the diminution
in the birth rate occurs chiefly among the more wealthy
classes, who are in a better position both financially and in
other respects to fill the gaps which have been caused by deaths
in the ranks of a population. These figures show moreover that
the responsibility of maintaining a surplus of the population
is falling in a greater proportion upon the working and poorer
classes of the community, who in many cases are the least able
to maintain their offspring and equip them for future positions
in life.
Illegitimacy.—During the year 1905, 4,684 infants were
registered in London as having been born out of wedlock. This
figure gives a proportion of 37 per 1,000 births, which is equal
to the average proportion in the preceding 10 years.