BIRTH-RATE STILL FALLING

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21715, 24 February 1936, Page 19

BIRTH-RATE STILL FALLING

EFFECT ON BRITAIN'S POPULATION

RECORD NUMBER OF DIVORCES

(FROM Opß OWN CORBBSPqNDJSNT.)

LONDON, January 26.

Although more people were married in, England and Wales in 1933 than ever before hi normal times* the birth-rate; was 14.4 a 10Q0 of population—the lowest ever recorded. Only two European countries had lower rates. They were Austria (14.3) and Sweden (13.7). These facts are revealed in the Registrar-General's statistical review for 1933, just published. Commenting on them/the report states: "Tendencies cannot be discerhed that might herald "any change in the falling trends noted in the last decade. The fall is the more serious since the position of this country in relation to that of others was already a low one before the war. Reduction in the population must inevitably take place in the near future if the current trend persists. . . . It is likely to come earlier than a few years ago was considered probable." Marriages djiring the year totalled 318,191— equivalent to a rate of 15.8 a 1000 of the total population, This was 11,000 more than 1932, and has been exceeded only in 1916 and in 1919-21, when war conditions prevailed. .

Births totalled 580,413—equivalent to a rate of 14.4 a 1000, and 33,559 fewer than in 1932. It compares with a rate of 36.3 a 1000 in 1876. ' ■ .-■• The estimated population totalled 40,350,000—0.37 w per cent, greater than in 1932 and 1 per cent, greater than in 1931. Of the total, 19,357,000 were males and 20,993,000 were females. The rate of increase of the population was only 2.1 a 1000 —the lowest ever recorded except in 1918.

Other facts brought out by. the report are: The average age of the estimated population has increased since 1921 from 29.9 to 32.2 years for males and from 31.2 to 33.9 for females. The proportion of persons more than 70 has increased since 1911 from 297 to 433 a 10,000 total population. The'proportion of widowers remarrying was higher than the proportion of bachelors marrying in all age groups. The proportion of widows remarrying was greater than that of spinsters marrying in; all.age groups over 35,

Record divorce Total

The commonest marriage age for men has risen in the last half century—from 21-25 to 25-30 for bachelors and from 35-40 to 50-55 for wicjowers. For women the most popular marriage age is; unchanged at 21-25 for spinsters, and 35-40 for widows: h'. :'/ v -. ... ; " -■• ,-f Divorces reached the record total of 3934—four times as great as in 1916—and the number of divorced persotis remarrying reached the re- - and 2321' women. Of the divorced persons, 53; per cent, had been married for more than 10 years, 41 per cent, were childless, and a further : 31 per ceht. had drily, one child.:, The most popular time of year for marrying is the July-September quarter; In .1933 32.4 per cent, of the weddings took place then, compared With only 8.9 per cent, in the first quarter—the lowest proportion for that quarter ever recorded. The Q<rtobe~r-Decerhber; yguarter, formerly 1 the most favoured, is -now third in order ?bf popularity. In London the marriage rate exceeded the mean for the country by more than 20 per cent. In the city it was nearly 4£ times the average, and the figures there and in Hplbqrn and Westminster—when? there'.'■ is an * unusually large number of- hotels—support the belief tha.t many people from the provinces or abroad are married in London. ~ , Cancer mortality declined among men between 25 and 35, and among women between 25 and 45 and over 65, For the other age groups it remained practically unchanged. Married women have a greater chance of survival, than single women—owing, it is suggested, to the married state being more favourable to vitality. , The risks of death from road accidents are greatest at s—lo, when Walking is upcontrolled by experience, 20—25, when driving is not fully restrained by a sense of responsibility, and in old age, with its physical inability to escape traffic dangers.