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14
1907]
1907. This fall in the birth-rate means much more than people readily grasp.
Thus, for instance, if the birth-rate, which averaged 37 2 per 1,000 of the
population in the decade 1861-70, had been maintained, there would have been
12,909 births registered in Islington in 1907, or 4,378 more than were recorded.
This is a serious matter, especially as similar decreases are occurring in nearly all
the populous towns, and, indeed, throughout the length and breadth of the
land. The causes of this decrease were touched upon in the report for 1906,
and were ascribed to:—
1. The deliberate act of married persons not to procreate children.
2. The later age at which women marry.
3. Variation in the proportion of women at the child-bearing age in
the population.
4. Variation in the marriage-rate.
5. Decrease in illegitimate births.
From an enquiry made by the Registrar General it appears that if a comparison
is made among European countries, it will be found that in the years
1880-2 there were no fewer than six States in which the fertility of wives was
less than that recorded in England and Wales; whereas twenty years later
(1900-2) the rate of fertility among married women in England and Wales was,
with the exception of France, lower than that recorded in any other European
country.*
The decline of the birth-rate in most Continental countries, according to
the Registrar General, shows no signs of being arrested, for in all the European
States for which returns are available, the rates for the year 1905 were, with
the exception of that recorded in Spain, below the averages of the previous
ten years.
That the decrease of births in this country is not merely due to the
decrease in illegitimate births, is proved by the enquiry which the Registrar
General made with respect to the fertility of wives at the child-bearing ages in
the several European States as well as in the State of the Australian Commonwealth,
which shows that there were only two States—Austria and Spain—in
which the birth-rate, during the 20 years (1881—1901) showed a tendency to
increase, and that this also applied to Ireland. In all of the remaining countries a
decrease in human fertility had taken place in the period under review, ranging
from 9.5 to as much as 19.8 percent. There were two countries, Italy and Norway,
in which the fall was only 2.5 and 3.7 per cent. respectively; in five others,
Switzerland, Sweden, the German Empire, the Netherlands, and Denmark,
* Registrar General's 68th Annual Report, p. xx.