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The average age of males in West Ham at the 1931 census
was 29.3 years, and the average age of females was 30.5 years.
The corresponding figures for the administrative County of Essex
(including the associated county boroughs) were: males, 31.1
years; females, 32.7 years. The number of males per 1,000
females in West Ham was 1,048. The age distribution per 1,000
of each sex in West Ham and in the larger area, as given by the
Registrar-General from the figures for the 1931 census, is set out
in Table VI.

* Sec footnote to Table III.
Size of population. It will be seen from Tables I. and II.
that the population of the area increased slowly but continuously
from 1801 to 1831. Between 1831 and 1841 there was a decline
in the rate of growth, but in the next decade began the period of
very rapid expansion which lasted for over thirty years. The
population still continued to increase rapidly, but the rate of growth
showed a progressive decrease. The peak year of population
growth was reached in 1925, when the estimated population was
318,500. Since that year there has been a steady decline in the
resident population. The effect of migration in producing this
decline will be briefly discussed in a later section. At present the
population of the area is declining by about 6,000 persons per year.
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