H.—3l

XV

Proportion of Illegitimate Births in every 100 Births.

These figures show the proportion of illegitimate births to every 100 births for this colony to be very steady for the period 1897-1906; the difference amounts only to 026 per cent, on a comparison of the first and last years. The total number of births registered was 19,135 in 1887 and 24,252 in 1906, while the illegitimate births rose from 617 to 1,132. The causes that led to the fall in the birth-rate certainly did not greatly affect the number of illegitimate children. The number of spinsters in the colony between 15 and 45 increased during the ten years from 85,101 (census 1896) to 110,428 (census 1906), or at the rate of 2976 per cent., while the illegitimate births increased from 834 to 1,132, or at the rate of 3573 per cent. It would therefore appear that the larger proportion of illegitimate births now obtaining cannot with any certainty be taken as indicative of increased looseness of living on the part of the people.

The following figures, showing the rate of illegitimacy per 100 births in Australasia and in the United Kingdom, are based on statistics for a period of five years in the former and ten years in the latter: —

Of the total number of children born in Australasia during the five years ended 1900, 5-67 per cent, were illegitimate, as compared with 4-42 per cent, in the United Kingdom for the same period.

The figures in the next table, which give the percentages of illegitimate births in a number of foreign countries, cover in most cases a period of five years.

For England and Wales the proportion of illegitimate births to the total births in 1905 was 4 per cent., having gradually diminished from 7 per cent in 1845. The average proportion of illegitimate births in Scotland in five years was 6-3 per cent., but in Ireland the extremely low average of 2-6 per cent, obtained,.

I ; " Year. Queensland. I Ne^° s uth Victoria. South Australia. Western Australia. Tasmania. New Zealand. 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 6-02 6-04 5-97 6-40 5-93 6-04 6-76 6-89 7 00 7-68 6-58 6-93 7-15 7-01 7-16 6-60 6-71 7-12 7-37 7-04 5-42 5-29 549 5-91 5-58 5-51 5-73 5-74 5-61 5-58 8-53 3-62 3-95 4-24 3-98 4-36 4-18 4-01 4-37 4-00 5-27 4-99 4-91 4-82 3-88 3-96 4-69 4-36 4-19 4-78 5-74 509 6-08 543 5-94 5-36 5-61 5-82 5-52 5-78 4-41 4-23 4-40 4-63 4-57 4-46 4-55 4-52 4-57 4-67

Country. Illegitimate Births per Cent. Country. Illegitimate Birtha per Cent. New South Wales... Victoria ... Queensland South Australia Western Australia... 7-0 5-6 69 4-2 4-4 Tasmania New Zealand England and Wales Ireland ... Scotland ... i 5-6 4-5 4-2 2-6 7-2

Country. Illegitimate Births per Cent. Country. Illegitimate Births per Cent. • Germany... Prussia ... Bavaria ... Saxony ... Austria ... 908 7-68 13-43 12-89 14-20 913 Prance ... Belgium Netherlands Sweden ... Norway... Italy i 8-82 7-67 2-60 11-13 7-43 6-45 Hungary ...