RECORD NUMBER OF MARRIAGES

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 143, 13 March 1937, Page 17

RECORD NUMBER OF MARRIAGES

Birth Decline Checked

VITAL STATISTICS FOR 1936

Preliminary figures, exclusive of Maoris, of the principal beads of vital statistics for the year 1936 are contained in the February number of the Abstract of Statistics, and show that the number of marriages in 1936 (13,740) is the highest ever recorded in New Zealand. The rate (9.21 per .1000 of mean population) is also the highest with the exception of the post-war year, 1920. The number for 1936 represents an increase of 13 per cent. oveY 1935.

The mounting annual total of mar-' riages during the last four years lias not been without, its effect upon the birth-rate, continues the statement. Whereas prior to 1936 the birth-rate for 11 years in succession was . pronounced the lowest on record, the'rate of decline has of more recent years been checked, while the recorded birthrate for 1936 (16.64) registers a slight increase over that for 1935 (16.17) and is the highest attained since 1932. The death-rate for 1936 (8.75), while the highest since 1923, is nevertheless lower than in any year prior to 1921, and maintains the low level that has been iu evidence in New Zealand for many years past, in spite of the steady ageing of the population. The total number of deaths was 13,056 (774 infant). The infant mortality rate since 1932 has been moving very steadily upward, while still maintaining annually the position of the lowest rate in the world. In 1936, however, an appreciable drop was recorded, reducing the rate to the lowest figure ever recorded (31.15).