MARRIAGE RATE FALLS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 796, 17 October 1929, Page 8

MARRIAGE RATE FALLS

FEWER BIRTHS, MORE DEATHS

(From Our Resident Reporter) WELLINGTON, Today. According to the annual report of the Dominion’s vital statistics the decline in the number of births registered continued in the year 1928. Tho total recorded was 27,200, this being tho lowest figure since 1919 ajid 6SI fewer than in 1927. At the same time the birth rate in 1928 fell to the record low figure of 19.56 per 1,000 of population. This gives a decline of 3.59 per cent compared with 1927, when the figure was 20.29 per 1,000. The number of marriages registered during the year was 10,537, an increase of 59 on the year before. However, the marriage rate computed from the6e figures of 7.58 per 1.000 of population is slightly less than that in 1927, when it was 7.62 per 1,000. It has been discovered, not only in New Zealand, but in all civiiised countries, that the marriage rate today is far below the average of pre-war years. In the years between 1904 and 1913 the normal tendency was toward a gradual increase but since the war the tendency has been toward a decrease and the tendency is being maintained. There were 19S more deaths in New Zealand in 1928 than in 1927, the figures being 11.811 and 11.613 respectively. This is believed to be due to the increased prevalence of illnesses such as scarlet fever, diphtheria and influ-