The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-08-04 00:00:00

STATISTICS OF LIFE,

Besides his quarterly report published about a
month after the close of every quarter, the Regis-
trar-General of England issues a more elaborate
annual report, which takes much time to prepare ;
the report for 1858 has just appeared. Nearly a
million and a half of names were inscribed on the
national register in that year ; it is a book into
which we all get, for, even if we do not marry,
we can neither enter life nor quit it without occu-
pying our " line and a half" in this history, at
all events. Referring first, not to England alone,
but to Great Britain, we find that its estimated
population in the middle of 1858 was 22,626,334,
and the excess of births over deaths in the year
246,488. 759,676 children were born alive, 351,346
persons married, and 513,188 died; so that, on an
average, every day in the year 2,080 children were
born, 962 persons married, and 1,405 died, leaving a
gain of 675 as the result of the day. The birth
rate for Great Britain was, 33.57 to 1,000 living,
the death rate 22.68, the marriage rate (persons
married) 35.32. For easy recollection it may be
noted that. rather more than twice as many are
born in a year as are married, and the deaths
should not be so high as midway between those
two numberS. To 1,000 people living in the
two countries, the births in the year were 34 in
Great Britain, 27 in France—a very striking
difference : the deaths 23 in Great Britain, 24 in
France ; the persons married 15.5 in Great Bri-
tain, 16.9 in France. In Scotland the marriages,
if all registered, were not so numerous as in Eng-
land ; the births were almost exactly at. the same
rate; hut the percentage of deaths in Scotland
was only 2.047, in England 2.303. Turning now
to England and Wales only, we learn that to
every 1,000 girls 1,045 boys were born, and 102
males died to every 100 females, the average of
21 years being 103 ; but there are more females
living in England than males, and out of equal
numbers living 105 males died to every 100 fe-
males, the average being 107. The births are
always most numerous in the first half of the
year; in 1858 they were as 2,091 to 1,909 in the
two half-years. To every 100 women living of
the age of 15-45 there were 14.3 births in the
year. 43,305 children were born out of wedlock
in 1858, or one in every 15 of all the children
born alive ; 106.2 boys were born illegitimate to
every 100 illegitimate girls, while among chil-
dren born in wedlock the boys were only 104.4 to
100 girls. The marriages in 1858 were below the
average. Marriages are celebrated in England
and Wales in 12,350 churches, and in 4,072
chapels not belonging to the Establishment, 505
of these being Roman Catholic. There were
128,082' marriages celebrated in churches, and
27,988 otherwise, 6,643 being of Roman Catholics,
and 9,952 in the Registrar's office, and not at any
place of religious worship. The marriages of
minors increase. The proportion of minors in
10,000 persons marrying increased from 885 in

1843, to 1,212 in 1858. To every 130 marriages
in 1858 by license there were 728 by banns,
which may be taken as the proportion of mar-
riages of the higher and middle classes to those
of the lower. In 1841, 41 in 100 of the persons
married had to sign the register with their
mark; in 1858 only 32 ; the improvement is
most striking among the women. In 185 R, 73 in
100 men, and 62 in 100 women, wrote their names
on this important occasion. The mortality of the
year was high. The deaths in the chief towns
were at the rate of 2.655; in the country districts,
2.006. The deaths in the army abroad were
more than usual, in consequence of the Indian
mutiny. The average strength of the army
abroad was 111,730, and the deaths abroad were
no less than 7,363—more than double the number
in the previora year, when the strength was
77,676. The number of merchant seamen at
sea in 1858 is calculated at 177,832, and 3,486
deaths at sea among this body were reported
to the Registrar-General of Merchant Seamen,b,
with an account of their effects, This
wofullheir
19.6 in I,ooo—a high rate among men
doeso not
age and physical acicvantages. This retu.rnn
parts;
include seamen dying ashore in fortehieg
Board of
the account of their effects is sentttoins
of vessels
Trade by the consuls. The. P
return the births of 112 English subjects in British
v-e claw with a
vessels at sea, and 390 deadth
I Scotland anon]
that which must be rea.alls:oilloth..e• recollection
that on our side the pop
millions, are not
Ireland, between ring and ten
included ;--.

'.'ngland and Wales. •b111:3e.
1854. 1858. 15.51. 1858.
15%727 158,070
ti7203,,94c0G1 307,2189
18,81%780 19.523.103 36,155,682 3G,387 6'
Estimated
..
....
Marriages ....... 034,405 655,481
Births ............
437,905 449,656 992,779 - 986772:663282
Deaths .............

The Herald, referring to the
Majorities on the
fortification vote last night, ,sa
sy for the first
time in the present session the Government has
succeeded in carrying a measure which commands
the assent of all reasonable men in the country.