[Report 1925] / Medical Officer of Health, Glasgow.

  • Glasgow (Scotland)
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1925] / Medical Officer of Health, Glasgow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Year Births Registered Deaths Registered Natural Increase— Excess Births 1920 32,992 17,090 15,902 1921 30,072 16,051 14,021 1922 28,547 18,139 10,408 1923 27,038 15,311 11,727 1924 25,710 17,334 8,376 1925 25,832 15,882 9,950 In Table XXIV in the Appendix will be found the population of the City since 1860 Marked increases at various periods are mostly associated with extensions of the boundaries when smaller burghs or suburbs have become integral parts of the City. At other times considerable increases have taken place during periods of industrial prosperity. The mode of growth of a City has an important bearing on its public health problems. The following brief account of the expansion of the population illustrates what lias taken place in recent years. The history of Glasgow during last century was one of continued expansion beyond the boundaries at a rate greater than took place in the City itself. For instance, between 1861 and 1891 the population of Maryhill (then outwith the City) increased by 393 per cent. Similarly, between 1871 and 1891 Partick and Govan (also outwith the City) increased by 278 and 367 per cent, respectively. Between 1891 and 1901, after the annexation of 1891, there followed an era of very rapid building within the enlarged area. An important change took place in the next decade between 1901 and 1911. There set in an era of decline of house building in the City (the number of empty houses reaching 20,000), associated with an increasing growth of population beyond the boundaries. This salutary process did not continue long. From 1911 onwards, the decline in the erection of houses became general and marked. The empty houses, good, bad, and indifferent, were reoccupied; the demand became much greater than the supply, building diminished, practically to cease altogether in 1917, since when it has been slowly resumed at a rate quite insufficient to meet the normal demand, far less the extraordinary demand which these events have created. To these causes are due the extreme congestion and overcrowding of the present population along with the continued occupancy of houses which should have been vacated and closed long ago.