[Report 1947] / Medical Officer of Health, Glasgow.

  • Glasgow (Scotland)
Date:
1947
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1947] / Medical Officer of Health, Glasgow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    21/278 (page 21)
    On official figures which, have been given for emigration the proportion relating to Glasgow would be about 5,000 per annum at the present time, a number which is less than the average natural increase i.e., the excess of births over deaths. Last year this excess was 10,563 as the number of births, 25,829, was about 5,000 more than the annual average of recent j^ears, while the deaths numbering 15,267 remained around the average. The number of emigrants however, may increase when more shipping facilities become available but on the other hand it is probable that economic conditions throughout the world, at no very distant date, may tend to restrict this movement. The population of the city has therefore been estimated as 1.100.000 as at the middle of 1947. This number is an increase of 25.000 on the estimate for the previous year, a figure which is more or less justified by the following table similar to that given a year ago but restated now that social conditions have become more normal and information as to the position is more accurate. Number of Electorate ... ... ... Less those on Service Register ... ... ... 12,620 Less Electorate on Business Register ... 5,968 Estimated Population under 5 years of age ... Estimated Population from 5-15 years Estimated Population between 15 and 21 years Less conscripted for military service ... 791,311 18,588 772,723 100,000 185,000 110,000 10,000 100,000 1,157,723 A consideration of the birth rates and death rates over the past ten or twenty years would seem to corroborate the post-war estimates of the population which have been adopted for the Annual Reports of the Department. This increase of population is not substantiated by the annual increase in the number of inhabited houses, a return made by the City Assessor, on which in former years was based the inter- censal changes. The housing position at the present time is quite abnormal. Ward Population.—The ward distribution of the population is given in Table 1 of the Appendix. Variations throughout the wards are largely dependent on the number of occupied houses and these variations are mostly influenced by building activities for there are now practically no suitable and inhabitable empty houses.