[Report 1904] / Medical Officer of Health, Birmingham.

  • Birmingham (England). Council.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1904] / Medical Officer of Health, Birmingham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/172 (page 5)
    POPULATION. By the Eegistrar-General’s method of estimating Population increases in population during inter-censal periods, there were in the middle of 1904 (June 30th) 537,965 persons living within the City boundary. If the same relative numbers of males and females existed as at the census, then on June 30th there were •259,699 males and 278,273 females living in the City. For the purposes of this report the above estimates have been used for calculation of mortality and other rates, as in the absence of reliable local data it is preferable to use the official method. There are, however, some local data which go to Pos.sii)ieeimr . ’ . ^ /> 1 ^ estinialecl indicate that the uegistrar-General s estimate of the popii- population, lation is somewhat too high, although as yet the error is not sufficient to vitiate the conclusions based upon it. Only three and a cpiarter years have elapsed between the census enumeration and the date of the above esti- mate, yet it is already necessary to look into the question of the accuracy of the most fundamental of all our health statistics—the gross number of the population. If error there be already, it will increase during the following six years and three-quarters, and may seriously vitiate our conclusions. Everyone engaged in public health work, and who is Need of a responsible for the statistical part of it, is agreed that a censur''’’ decennial interval between census enumerations is far too long, and that at least a partial census is needed at the middle period of the decennium. The great and out- standing difficulty in taking such a quinquennial census is the expense involved. In a city such as Birmingham there are certain prominent factors in operation leading to error in the population estimates.