View report page

A rise in the birth rate (live and still) is recorded from 14 98 in 1957 to 15-73 *n J958The
birth rate is the number of births per 1,000 of the total population, and the figure in
1958 is the highest since 1949, when it was 15-72.
Forty-two illegitimate five births were registered during 1958. The following table
shows the comparative figures for the past 25 years.
Year No. of Illegitimate
Live Births
1934 27
1935 23
1936 24
1937 38
1938 31
1939 34
1940 31
1941 30
1942 38
1943 39
1944 55
1945 60
1946 56
1947 53
1948 53
1949 39
1950 36
1951 28
1952 26
1953 31
1954 23
1955 21
1956 38
1957 37
1958 42
To make an approximate allowance for the way in which the sex and age distribution
of the local population differs from that for England and Wales as a whole, the birth rate is
multiplied by a comparability factor supplied by the Registrar-General. The corrected live
birth rate was 16.2. The corresponding rate for the whole of England and Wales was 16.4.
The illegitimate birth rate was 50.5 compared with a figure of 49 per 1,000 five births for
England and Wales.
Infant Mortality
Infant mortality, i.e. the number of children dying before reaching the age of one year,
fell in 1958. Seventeen infants died, giving an infant mortality rate of 20.46 per 1,000 live
births, as against 21.29 in 1957. Of these 17 deaths, 3 died at home and 14 in hospital.
Thirteen infants (8 male and 5 female) died within the first four weeks after birth. Table V
gives the causes of infant deaths under the age of one year. Graph A, on infant mortality
rates, shows the trend of the infant mortality rate since 1900. The infant mortality rate for
Middlesex County was 18.8, and the infant mortality rate for England and Wales as a whole
was 22.5, the lowest ever recorded in this country. It will be seen that Southall's figure is
still lower than the national one.
12