Evening star., 1955-03-16
"a Births Hit NewHigh,
Deaths at Record Low
Marriage Rote Still Falling
While Divorce Is on Rise
By Thomos R. Henry

The natural increase In this. .coun-
try's population probably was greater
last year than ever before. @
There appears to have been Q new
high in the birth rate and new low
In the death rate. -
{ This is the conclusion Of Public
Health Service statisticians from study
Of the statistics on the first ten months
of 1854. Reports for the last two
months are not yet available. but seem
unlikely to disturb the general con-
clusion.
Marriages. however, continued to de-
cline. This has been almost continuous
since the war marriage boom ended in
1915. Divorces, which decreased sharply
during the first postwar years, are on
the increase.
2.5 Pct. Increase + !,
During the first ten months. the re-.
ports show. 3,334.0o0 births were reg
istered. exceeding the number during
the same period Of 1853 by as per cents
II this lead is maintained for the rest
of the year about 1000. 900 births will
be registered. About 100000, it Is ex-s
pected, will not be registered.
In each year since the wars end
births have been at considerably
higher level than during or ediately,
before the war. The total climbed
from 2.858.00 in 1945 to 3.8lT000 in
1947. There was a slight dip during
the next three years but the increase
started again in 1851 and has con-
tinued to date.
The birth rate per 1000 populations
in 1853 was ISL. The indications are
that it win be at least 25.2 for last
year. During the depression 1t dropped
to 1874.
Much Of the increase in births, ac-
cording to the report. can be attributed
to continuing rise in three, four and
five children families. It is not ex-
pected that the 1854 figures win show
any increase in the number Of first
births, because of the few marriages.
Viewpoints Differ $
The phenomenon Of an increasing
birth rate has been observed over most
of the world and has caused both sat
isfaction and alarm. It has been held
that great population increases nearly
always end in great catastrophes, such
as major wars or epidemics. On the
other hand growing poPulation--and
hence growing manpoWer--usually -
considered encouraging by nations.
The seasonal variation In the birth
rate during 1858 and the first ten
months of 1854 was quite marked and
seemed to follow pattern which has
held UP since the war. There was a
minor peak during the first three
months followed by sharp drop in
April. Then there was another rise
to nigh in August followed by a de-
cline to the end of the year.
For the past five years the death
rate has remained nearly stationary
between 9.6 and 81 per 1000. 1t Is
{ expected, however, that these figures
8 will be bettered for last year. For the
period from January through October
the rate was only 81 compared to q
previous low Of 96. Unless mortality
should prove to have been exception
1aily high for November and December
4 IT is likely that the Pate for the year
VIII fall under 93. The year was I'M.
usual. for its almost complete freedom
from epidefnies. ls4 is.24a,+. 2'-' ~ '''' ~.
"a 4SSa- HCs5 9ak lQQiN. 4. %
! et1t Marriage Rate Dips s =,
u The marriage rate dropped from 81
!, per 1000 in 1853 to 90 for the first
10 months of last year This figure
probably was maintained for the year.
The decline Is attributed to the low
marriage rate lin the depression years,
so that there are now fewer Of mar
riageable age.
Quite incomplete reports indicate
4 that during the year the divorce rate
y has dropped about 4 per cent. The
rate reached an all-time high in 1916
with 4.3 per 1000 Of the entire popu-
lation. This was due largely to the
breakup Of hasty war marriages.