Biological aspects of social problems : a symposium held by the Eugenics Society in October, 1964 / edited by J. E. Meade, A. S. Parkes.

Date:
[1965]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Biological aspects of social problems : a symposium held by the Eugenics Society in October, 1964 / edited by J. E. Meade, A. S. Parkes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    DATA AVAILABLE FOR THE STUDY OF FERTILITY IN GREAT BRITAIN E. Grebenik Department of Social Studies, University of Leeds the Study of population statistics began with an interest in mortality data. The fundamental instrument for the study of mortality—the life table—was developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and correct methods for constructing these tables were known in the nineteenth century. When civil registration began in this country in 1837, the principal ques¬ tions essential to the study of mortality were asked at death registration: information was obtained about the sex, age and profession of the deceased person, as well as about the cause of death. In conjunction with census data, detailed studies of mortality became possible in 1841. Although some of the information collected has become more accurate than it was 125 years ago, particularly in respect of the cause of death, essentially the system has remained unchanged since the beginning of vital registration. This earlier development in the study of mortality reflected the fact that the reduction of the death rate was one of the most pressing social problems of the nineteenth century. It is prob¬ ably also true that at that time mortality was a more important determinant of population growth than was fertility. The comparative interest taken by official statisticians in the two problems is well shown, when one looks at the collection of William Farr's writings on Vital Statistics, edited by Noel Humphreys ;4 only twenty-one pages of the book were devoted to the study of fertility, as compared with over 300 dealing with mortality. The Act of 1836, which set up the system of vital registra¬ tion in England and Wales, required much less detailed infor¬ mation to be provided at the registration of a birth than was the case with deaths. No information was collected about the age of either parent at the birth of the child: all that was asked for was the child's sex, the date of birth and—^in the case of 3