VITAL STATISTICS

Southland Times, Issue 18932, 4 May 1923, Page 4

VITAL STATISTICS

SOME INTERESTING FIGURES. I (Special to the Times.) • i WELLINGTON, May 3. If the war years, which were abnormal, are excluded from the comparison, the New Zealand marriage rate for the year 1922, if the lowest recorded since 1899, and the birth rate is lower than that of any previous year with the solitary exception ot 1919. The death rate for 1922, is the lowest but one, in the records of the country. During the year 1922, states the latest issue of the monthly abstract of statistics, “the births of 29,000 children born alive were registered, representing a rate of 23.17 per 1000 of the mean population. The number is 439 more than that of the previous year, and is the second highest ever recorded in the Dominion, having been exceeded only in 1920, when 29,921 births were registered. The number of deaths registered during 1922 (10,977) is the third * highest ever recorded New Zealand, but the rate has only been exceeded in 1918 and 1920. The rate of 8.77 per 1000 of the mean population is, however, remarkably low and is the second lowest ever recorded in the history of the country, the lowest rate being that for 1921 (8.73). During the year, 9,556 marriages were solemnised being 7.63 per 1000 of the mean population. The number of marriages for the year was 1079 less than in 1921 and 2,619 less than in 1920. Although in point of numbers the marriages solemnised in 1922 were still a long way in advance of those of any years prior to 1914, the rate was on the other hand the lowest recorded since 1899’.