Seventeenth annual report of the Registrar-General on the births, deaths, and marriages registered in Scotland during the year 1871; and seventh annual report on vaccination.

  • Great Britain. General Register Office.
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Seventeenth annual report of the Registrar-General on the births, deaths, and marriages registered in Scotland during the year 1871; and seventh annual report on vaccination. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    greater in the Rural Districts than in the Town Districts, and this pre- ponderance continues to be observed in the returns of 1871. Of the births in the Town Districts, 9 per cent, have been returned as illegitimate, while in the Rural Districts the per-centage of illegitimacy has amounted to 10*2. On comparing Table VI. with the corresponding tables of former Annual Reports, it will be remarked that in the several divisions and counties of Scotland the relative proportion of illegitimacy has not during 1871 materi- ally deviated from that formerly recorded. The ratio varies exceedingly in certain counties, being under 5 per cent, in Shetland, Orkney, Ross, and Cromarty, and exceeding 15 per cent, -in Kirkcudbright, Aberdeen, Dum- fries, Banff, and W igtown. Of the 116127 children born during 1871, 60072 were boys, and 56055 girls ; thus showing that the proportion of the sexes at birth was 107*2 boys for every 100 girls. It is well known, and has been repeatedly pointed out in these Reports, that the preponderance of male births in Scot- land exceeds that observed in England, or on the continent of Europe. Another peculiarity observed only in Scotland is, that this preponderance of males continues year after year to show itself, more particularly among the illegitimate births. On the continent, on the other hand, the ratio of male births is lower among the illegitimate than among the legitimate. The usual proportion of the sexes in all births in Scotland is about 105*5 boys to 100 girls, from which numbers the observed deviations have hitherto been for the most part trifling. In 1870, however, when the ratio fell to 104*5 boys to 100 girls, there was a sensible fluctuation ; but during 1871 a sudden and at present inexplicable change in the opposite direction has occurred, and the observed numbers of male and female births have been in the proportion of 107*2 to 100. It will be interesting to And whether this extreme frequency of male births has during 1871 been observed in the other divisions of the kingdom. The greatest daily number of births occurred, as usual, during the months of March, April, May, and June, when they respectively numbered 325, 330, 349, and 329 daily. The daily births were least numerous dur- ing the winter months, November and December, when they amounted respectively to 300 and 298 daily. (Table XIV.) DEATHS. The registered Deaths in Scotland during 1871 were 74644, which indicates the ratio of 222 deaths in every ten thousand persons, or 2*22 per cent. The mean death-rate of the ten previous years having been 2*205 TABLE YI.—Proportion of Illegitimate Children to every 100 Births in Scotland, its Divisions and Counties, during the year 1871. DIVISIONS. Per Cen t. of Illegit. Counties. Per Cent, of Illegit. Counties. Per Cent, of Illegit. Counties. Per Cent, of Illegit. SCOTLAND. 9*5 Shetland 4-8 Forfar IPG T.nnark 8*3 B*8 Orkney 48 Perth 10'G 7'4 Northern Division 7-8 Caithness 11 ’0 Fife Kflin hnvgh 8'L 8-5 North-Western Do. GO Sutherland S-5 Kinross 7-4 Haddington .... North-Eastern Do. 15-1 Ross & Cromarty 4-9 Clackmannan 7 6 Berwick 10-7 East-Midland Do. 9-9 Inverness 8'4 Stirling 8T Peebles 8'9 West-Midland Do. 7G Nairn 69 Dumbarton G-7 Selkirk 10 3 South-Western Do. 8'1 Elgin 13-6 Argyll 7-2 Roxburgh 11 South-Eastern Do. 8-5 Banff 17-1 Bute 9-4 Dumfries lfi 1 Southern Do. 149 Aberdeen 15 4 Renfrew C'5 1 fbO Kincardine 12-9 Ayr 9'4 Wigtown 172
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