Census 1951, England and Wales : fertility report.

  • Great Britain. General Register Office.
Date:
1959
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Census 1951, England and Wales : fertility report. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/374
    Census 1951, Fertility Report General Explanatory Notes i General Note.- This volume contains statistics from the 1951 Census of England and Wales on fertility of marriage, together with some based, in addition, on the sample Family Census taken in 1946 by the Royal Commission on Population and on the annual Vital Registration Statistics. They supersede the figures published in Part II of the Census 1951, Great Britain, One per cent Sample Tables. The differences between the final figures and those derived from the one per cent sample are discussed in Chapter 1 on p.xxv. 2s 1951 Census Population.- The census enumerated population is that living and counted, in each area, at midnight, 8th/9th April, 1951. Persons enumerated on board vessels which were at that time in port or at moorings or anchorage in England or Wales or engaged in a coastwise or fish- ing voyage are included and classified, with as much accuracy as the information furnished allows, to the appropriate local areas. The questions on fertility of marriage were addressed only to married women aged under 50 at the time of the census. They were not included on the special form of schedule which was used for members of the armed forces who were enumerated in defence establishments or on board naval vessels; as a result the small number of married women enumerated on those forms are entirely excluded from the census tabulations of fertility. . Se Basis of Main Tables.- The main tables in this volume are divided into five sections. Tables A to C analyse in detail the family sizes as at census date, 8th April, 1951, together with the fertility of the year. ending on that date. Tables A and B are confined to married women under the age of 50 at the time of the census, and Tables C to those aged 45-49 | (last birthday) at that time. Tables D and E trace the fertility experience of women married under the age of 45 at any time from 1920 to 1954 during the whole course of their married lives up to 1955 inclusive. The former are based on the tabulations of the census of 1951; the latter use, in addition, the other sources mentioned in Note l. 4. Children born before Marriage.- Tables A to C relate to the legitimate fertility of women enumerated as married at the census, and are thus intended to exclude any children born to these women before marriage. It is likely, however, that a number of such children have been included in the census returns, and that not all of them could be detected and excluded from the tabulations. The tables of mean family size in Tables D, on the other hand, include the children born to married women before marriage, as recorded in the Family Census of 1946 and estimated thereafter. Si Understatement of Remarriage.- For a number of women who had been married more than once this fact was not apparent from the statements on the census schedule. The resulting bias in the returns and the adjust- ments made to remove it as far as possible from the final tables are dis- cussed in Chapter l. Tables A to C, except Tables A.15 and 16, have been so adjusted. Tables D and E are not affected by the bias. 6. Other Not Stated and Inconsistent Information.- Married women who failed to state the date of their marriage or the number of children born to them (or both) were excluded from all the fertility tabulations. Women who gave an alleged date of marriage- which was inconsistent with their age were also excluded, as were a small number who stated numbers of children born to them which appeared impossible for their ages. These excluded classes were not specifically counted; an estimate of their effect on the numbers in the samples tabulated is given on p.xxii. Where the question on current fertility (whether or not the woman had borne a live-born child in the preceding year) had not been completed an vill