[Report 1932] / Medical Officer of Health, Glasgow.

  • Glasgow (Scotland)
Date:
1932
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1932] / Medical Officer of Health, Glasgow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the period between 1921 and 1931, the general death-rate has been more or less stabilised in the neighbourhood of 15 per thousand persons living. In the same period, however, the birth-rate has fallen from an average of 28-5 to slightly over 21 during the past three years, so that the natural increase is now only about 6 per thousand, as against 11 per thousand formerly. The low number of persons per family, as recorded at the 1931 census, is therefore to be attributed to the rapid decline in the birth-rate during the war years, but especially since 1921, combined with a stationary death-rate.” (d) Number of Persons per Room. — Another method of expressing the influence of the above-mentioned factors on housing conditions is the number of persons per room, a figure of great social and public health importance. The following comparison covers the same period as before: — Date of Census. 1881. 1891. 1901. 1911. 1921. 1931. No of Persons per Room, 2-040 2-033 1-846 1-827 1-766 1-536 “ Until 1921 the fall may be ascribed to the inclusion, by extension within the city boundaries, of residential areas which contained a greater proportion of larger-sized houses than the city generally. The increase in the number of rooms per house since 1921, combined with the fall in the number of persons per family already referred to, accounts for the low figure in 1931. The public health significance of these recent movements is thus apparent.” (e) Persons per Room according to Size of House. — The following table carries the inquiry as to the occupancy of houses into the different sizes of house of which the city is composed: — Glasgow.—Comparison op Number op Persons per Room at various Periods, according to Size op House. Size of House. 1891. 1901. 1911. 1921. 1931. All Sizes, 2-033 1-846 1-827 1-766 1-536 1 apartment, 3-232 3-183 3-196 3-248 3-102 2 apartments, ... 2-475 2-463 2-432 2-361 2-093 3 1-839 1-803 1-734 1-581 1-454 4 1-407 1-332 1-254 1-135 1-098 5 „ and up, ... 0-882 0-787 0-761 0-679 0-680 “ Until 1911, except in the houses of four apartments and over, there was little evidence of reduction in the number of persons per room when thus arranged. All groups, however, show improvement since that date, other than the one-apartment houses. The outstanding feature of the table is that the average number of persons occupying the one-apartment house has remained practically constant throughout the whole period and still shows little indication of improvement. The single- apartment may be sufficiently commodious to meet the require-