[Report 1955-1956] / Medical Officer of Health, Berkshire County Council.

  • Berkshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1956
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1955-1956] / Medical Officer of Health, Berkshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/46 (page 2)
    BIRTHS AND BIRTH RATES. Live Births. I he numbers for live births, and the birth rates per 1,000 population for 1956 and the five previous years were:— 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 Number of live births, Berks ... 4,747 4,953 4,996 5,249 5,523 5,953 Birth rate per 1,000 population, Berks I5.93 16.36 16-14 16-54 16-98 17-66 In comparison with the birth rate for the county as a whole for the years 1955/56, the rates for Abingdon Borough and Rural District were significantly high, and those for the Rural Districts of Newbury and Wokingham significantly low. The birth rate for England and Wales in 1956 was 15-7. Still-Births. The numbers of still-births and the proportion of still-births per 1,000 total births (together with the latter proportion for England and Wales) for 1956 and the five previous years Numbers of still-births, Berks were:— 1951 80 1952 92 1953 100 1954 106 1955 102 1956 132 Proportion of still-births per total births, Berks 1,000 16-6 18-2 19-6 19-6 18-1 22-1 Proportion of still-births per total births, England and 1,000 Wales 23-0 22-7 22-4 23-4 23-2 22-9 It can be seen from the figures that the proportion of still-births in England and Wales as a whole has become for the moment stablised. There are, how- ever, appreciable differences between different parts of the country. The figures for Berkshire are consistent with the belief that still-births for the county are similarly stabilised, but at a lower level; and Berkshire has had a relatively good record in regard to this, as with most other vital statistics. The figure for Berkshire for the whole period 1951 to 1956 is 19-1. Neither the apparently high rate for 1956 nor the apparently low one for 1951 are significantly different from the figure of 19-1 referred to, having regard to the annual number of still-births that are involved, and it is reasonable to suppose that the fluctuations are due to chance alone. The numbers of illegitimate births were 304 (including 6 still-births) in 1955, and 324 (including 9 still-births) in 1956. For the two years, the proportion of births that were illegitimate was 5-4 per cent., compared with 4-6 per cent, for England and Wales as a whole. The percentage of births that are illegitimate in Berkshire has been for some years about 1 above that for England and Wales.