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Sixty-six illegitimate live births were registered during 1960. The following table
shows the comparative figures for the past 25 years, showing that 1960 has the highest
figure recorded during that period.
No. of Illegitimate
Year Live Births
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
1959 55
1960 66
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 15.98. The corresponding rate for the whole of England and Wales
was 17.1 and this was the highest birth rate since the year 1948.
Infant Mortality
Infant mortality, i.e. the number of children dying before reaching the age of one year,
improved in 1960. Fourteen infants died compared with seventeen in 1959, giving a
rate of 17.14 compared with 22.88 in 1959. This is the lowest infant mortality rate
ever recorded in the Borough—the nearest to it being 17-19 in 1955. Of these 14 deaths,
2 died at home and 12 in hospital. Twelve infants (8 male and 4 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 18.6 and the infant
mortality rate for England and Wales as a whole was 21.7, the lowest ever recorded in
this country. The Southall figure is well below both the County and the National rates.
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