Report on the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea for the year 1908.

  • Battersea (London, England). Metropolitan Borough.
Date:
[1909]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Report on the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea for the year 1908. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    12 Births. The total number of births belonging to the Borough of Battersea during 1908 was 4,629. Of the total births, 2,385 were males and 2,244 females, showing an excess of 141 males. The number of births was slightly higher (55) than in 1907, but was 296 below the decennial average 1898-1907, and 646 less than the number in 1884, when the population was only 121,299. The births in the sub-districts were as follows: — Males. Females. Total. East Battersea 1,080 1,007 2,087 North-West Battersea 825 800 1,625 South-West Battersea 480 437 917 Borough 2,385 2,244 4,629 The birth rate—i.e., the number of births per 1,000 of the population—was 25.1, exactly the same rate as in 1907, which was the lowest birth rate ever recorded in Battersea, and is 3.4 below the average for the previous ten years. Whilst it is satis factory to note that the decline in the birth rate, which has been steadily taking place in recent years in the Borough (in common with the rest of the country, and, in fact, in all civilised countries) was not maintained at the same rate as in the past five or six years, the explanation that the birth rate during 1908 was the same as that in 1907 is accounted for by the fact that the returns for the former year include an extra week. In reality, therefore, the birth rate for 1908 is slightly lower than in the previous year. To those, therefore, who believe that a falling birth rate is a source of danger to the future of the race, the birth statistics for 1908 are not encouraging.