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increase will be transformed to a decrease. Even at the present
time the rate of growth is greater than that for the country as a
whole, but this comparison hardly serves as a compliment to the
capacity for increase of the population of the borough.
INFANT MORTALITY.
The infant mortality of the area is summarised by sexes in
Table XXIV. This table shows that the highest mortality in
infants under one year of age was reached in the quinquennial
period 1896-1900, when the rate was 182 per 1,000 live births,
The rate for the country as a whole was also very high during this
period. The fact that the rates for the preceding quinquennial
periods were lower than this is possibly due to the fact that infants
who were almost one year old at death were registered as having
been "1 year old," and that hence a number of infants who died
were classified in the next highest age group. A substantial
decline occurred in the war years, and since 1920 the decline has
been maintained and on the whole accelerated. It is worthy of
note that in all but the most recent years of the post-war period
the quinquennial rates for West Ham have been lower than those
for England and Wales. The mortality rates for male infants has
been consistently higher than the corresponding rates for female
infants.
The infant mortality rate for the year 1937 was 62 per 1,00c
live births. The highest rate in the records—though, as explainec
above, not necessarily the highest true rate—was 201 in 1899
The lowest rate so far recorded was 45 in 1935.
The infant mortality rates, according to the legitimacy or
illegitimacy of the infant, are set out in Table XXV. It is seer
from this table that in West Ham in recent years the rate for
illegitimate infants is approximately double that for legitimate
infants. Apart from the immediate post-war years there has no1
been any considerable change in this ratio. The experience of the
County of London approaches very closely to that of West Ham
The same feature was seen in the country as a whole, but in recent
vears there has been a tendency for the rate for illegitimate
infants to approximate to that for legitimate infants
These figures are sufficient to suggest that the illegitimate child
does run a substantially greater risk of death in infancy. Too
much importance should not be attached to comparisons betweer
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