80
BIRTHS.
The births registered during the year were as follows:-
Chinese,.. Non-Chinese,
Males.
Females.
Total.
..633
333
966
.123
111
234
756
444
1,200
This is equal to a general birth-rate of 3.8 per 1,000 as compared with 3.6 in 1901, 3.3 in 1900, and 4.3 in 1899.
The birth-rate among the non-Chinese community alone was 12.6 per 1,000 as compared with 11.9 per 1,000 in 1901.
The nationalities of the non-Chinese parents were as follows:-British 98, Portuguese 70, Indian 27, German 16, Malay 16, French 3, Japanese 2, and Spanish and Norwegian one each.
The preponderance of male births over female births is still very marked among the Chinese com- munity, being in the proportion of 190 male births to every 100 female births. The proportion among the non-Chinese community was 111 to 100 as compared with 107 to 100 in the previous year.
The number of the Chinese births registered does not give an accurate record of the total number of births of Chinese that have occurred in the Colony, for many of the infants that die during the first month or so of life remain unregistered, although their deaths must be registered to obtain the necessary burial orders. It has been customary, therefore, to add to the registered births the number of infants of one month old and under that die in the various Convents, or are found by the Police in the streets or in the Harbour. The number during 1902 was 239 males and 364 females making a total of 603 and the addition of these figures to the registered Chinese births gives a total of 1,569 as compared with 1,410 during the previous year. The corrected birth-rate is, therefore, 6.1 per 1,000, while among the Chinese alone the rate becomes 5.3 per 1,000. The total Chinese births" as calculated in the above manner show a proportion of only 125 male births to every 100 female births, while the dead bodies of infants found in the streets or left at the doors of the Convents show 66 nales to every 100 females, the explanation being that the Chinese have very little regard for the value of the lives of female children.
DEATHS.
The total number of deaths registered during the year was 6,783, as compared with 7,082 during the previous year. The death-rate for 1902 was, therefore, 21.7 per 1,000 as compared with 23.5 in 1901, 23.9 for 1900, and an average of 23.0 per 1,000 during the past five years. These deaths in- clude 582 from Bubonic Plague.
The following table gives the death-rates during the past twenty years, inclusive and exclusive of deaths from Bubonic Plague and exclusive in every case of the Naval and Military populations and deaths, as until the last eight years these latter populations were not recorded:-
1883,.
1884,
.30.047 ..26.91
1893,
1894,
.....22.70)
.30.37
1885,
.32.36
1895,
.21.89
1886,.
.31.79
1896,
24.25
1887.
9
..28.59
1888,
.31.72
> Average 27.27
1897.
.19.13
1898.
...22.71
Average 23.57
1889,
23.64
1899,
24.33
1890,
...23.19
1900,
.24.12
1891..
.23.80
1901,
.24.03
1892...
..20.70
1902,..
.22.18
Excluding Plague.
1894,
.19.85
1895,
.21.74
1896,
.19.79
1897,
.19.05
1898,
.17.98
1899,
18.65
1900,
.21.10
1901,
.19.03
1902,
.20.32