Taranaki Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1909.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 12883, 25 September 1909, Page 4

Taranaki Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1909.

BIRTH RATE AND DEATH RATE. The matter of the birth-rate and of the death-rate are questions which are of paramount importance to any country, and are subjects which have engaged the attention of statesmen and philanthropists o£ most civilised 'countries. A declining birth-rate is noticeable in many countries, aud attention has been drawn by statisticians and political economists to the serious consequences that may result from such a state of affairs. In March, 1901, New Zealand had 86,806 children living under the age of five years, and in April, 1906, the number was 102,745, an increase of 15,939, or 18.35 per cant., although the. population at all ages increased in the quinquennium by only 14.99 per cent. Bebween 1891 and 1896 the increase was only 455, or 0.55 per cent, while between 1886 and 1891 the children living under five years actually decreased in number by 3624, the increase of population of all ages (8.33 per cent.) being less than beoween 1891 and 1896 (12.24 per cent.), 1896 and 1901 (9.86 per cent.), or 1901 and 1906 1,14.99 per cent.). The number of children under one year to the total population at all ages, according to the results of five censuses, was: — Children Under Total Population Census. One Year. (all ages). 1886 18,355 578,482 1891 16,443 626,658 1896 17,070 703,360 1901 18,381 772,719 ' 1906 22,289 888,578 Thus, in 1886, with a population of J 578,482 persons, there were 18,355 children under one year, against 22,289 children of that age in 1906, with a population of 888,578 persons. The births registered in 1885 wera 19,693, against 23,682 in 1905. The birth-rate fell from 34.35 per 1000 of the population in 1885 to 27.22 in 1905. In 1900 New Zealand had the lowest birth-rate in Australasia, though' the rate for 1907 (27.30) was higher than that of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and the United Kingdom, though considerably below Austria-Hungary 36, Germany 33, and Italy 31, France being lowest with but 20.6 per 1000 of mean population. Much more favourable does New Zealand appear in the death-rate, for chis Dominion is conspicuous by having the lowest in the world, 'far below that cor the United Kingdom or the European Continental States, which in 1906 varied :rom 13.5 in Denmark and 15.4 in England and Wales to 19.9 in France and Jermany and 24\8 in Hungary.