The decline of human fertility in the United Kingdom and other countries as shown by corrected birth-rates / by Arthur Newsholme and T.H.C. Stevenson.
- Newsholme, Arthur, 1857-1943.
- Date:
- [1906]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The decline of human fertility in the United Kingdom and other countries as shown by corrected birth-rates / by Arthur Newsholme and T.H.C. Stevenson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![Corrected Legitimate Birth-Rate Percentage Reduction. 1881. 1903. England and Wales 32-73 2729 17 London 30-92 25-91 16 Bedfordshire 32'fil 2511 23 Berkshire 33-97 26 80 21 • Cornwall 35-46 25-11 29 Rutland 3639 2604 28 Summing up the evidence as to rural and urban birth-rates in this country, it may be said that (1) rural birth-rates have declined more than urban birth-rates, and are approximating to the latter; (2) there is no essential reason why the urban should be lower than the rural birth-rates. The fact that in Germany the reduction of the birth-rate is chiefly shown in its great cities, is an indication not that urbanisation favours a low birth-rate, but that the operative causes of a low birth-rate have not yet affected the rural population of that country to any great extent. Industrial Conditions.-—These are difficult to separate from social conditions, to be considered later, but one or two indications may be mentioned in this connection. In 1881 the agricultural counties showed the highest fertility. In 1903 this difference had largely disappeared. A table, not here reproduced, was prepared showing that both great and small declines in birth-rate have occurred among the counties which have the highest proportion of persons engaged in agriculture. In New Zealand the population is largely agricultural, but it now has a corrected total birth-rate (Table V, Appendix) not much higher than that of England, and its corrected total birth-rate has declined 19 per cent, in the same twenty-two years in which that of England has declined 18 per cent. The excessively low birth-rates of Huddersfield, Halifax, and Bradford do not reasonably lend themselves to the suggestion that employment in the woollen and worsted industries is concerned in producing a low birth- rate ; nor do the percentages of women industrially occupied in different counties vary with variations in the birth-rate. The mining counties are however among those having the highest birth-rate. Dace. According to the figures for 188], Scotland, Bavaria, Belgium, Norway, Prussia, New South Wales, Sweden, Denmark, Saxony, and New Zealand all had corrected birth-rates over the standard ; while urban communities like Paris, Kensington, Bradford, Berlin, Huddersfield, &c., were far below the standard. There is no evidence of differences of race-fertility among these civilised races, whatever may be the case among races for whom exact and](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22401520_0044.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
