[Report 1938] / Medical Officer of Health, East Suffolk County Council.

  • East Suffolk (England). County Council.
Date:
1938
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1938] / Medical Officer of Health, East Suffolk County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/122 (page 8)
    The turn of the tide has at last set in and for the first time since 1933 the Registrar-General has allowed the fall in the population of the County to stop. The gam permitted is only slight—an addition of 20 to the population of 1937—but it is significant and I think it probable that the estimated population will continue to rise until the next Census year, which will be 1941; the figures given between Census years can be little more than a conjecture, and until the next Census has been taken the real position cannot be known. The towns of Bungay, Felixstowe, Stowmarket and Woodbridge, are said to have gained in population; all the rest have lost. Felixstowe is given the most material increase of 270 persons. Lowestoft loses the most, 70 persons. The total gain for the towns is 220. The rural districts have lost in all 200 persons. This year, Deben, Lothingland and Samford have gained, while the four other districts have lost. Blyth, with a drop of 240, is the greatest sufferer. TABLE I. BIRTHS. (Still Births are excluded). Year. Total. Birth Rate per 1,000 Population. Urban. Rural. Administra- tive County. England and Wales. 1916 3936 20.1 19.6 19.8 21.0 1917 3460 18.7 16.8 17.6 17.8 1918 3761 20.2 18.0 19.0 17.7 1919 3791 19.3 18.6 18.9 18.6 1920 6161 26.2 26.3 26.7 26.6 1921 4617 22.1 21.4 21.7 22.4 1922 4206 20.4 19.8 20.1 20.4 1923 4033 19.4 18.9 19.1 19.7 1924 3803 17.6 18.0 17.8 18.8 1926 3646 16.6 16.8 16.7 18.3 1926 3430 16.8 16.6 16.2 17.8 1927 3362 16.4 16.1 16.8 16.7 1928 3294 14.8 16.1 16.6 16.7 1929 3303 14.6 16.3 16.6 10.3 1930 3441 16.4 16.8 16.2 16.3 1931 3163 16.0 16.6 16.3 16.8 1932 3070 14.0 16.2 14.7 16.3 1933 2861 13.2 13.9 13.6 14.4 1934 2998 13.6 16.1 14.3 14.8 1935 2912 13.4 14.4 13.9 14.7 1936 2870 13.4 14.2 13.9 14.8 19.H7 2h64 H.4 14.5 14.4 14.9 1938 2868 14.0 13.8 13.9 16.1 The number of births has fallen, and only once before has a smaller figure been recorded, namely, in 1933. The rate is the same as it was in 1935 and 1936, which suggests that the higher rate last year was accidental, and that a rate round about 14 per 1,000 population is a normal one for the County to-day. It should be noted that the rate for England and Wales is higher than it has been since 1932; indeed, the rate for the country has risen gradually since 1935.