Births Registered
163. The number of births registered in 1968 was 82,992, com- prising 81,506 Chinese (41,994 male, 39,512 female), and 1,486 non- Chinese (772 male and 714 female). Table XXXIV gives (a) the number of births registered during the years 1959 to 1968 by sex and race with the percentages of males and females, and of Chinese and non-Chinese, and (b) the live birth rates per thousand of population for the same years. The total number of births registered in 1968 decreased by 5,179 from 88,171 in 1967 and was in fact the lowest total since 1953, when the total was 75,544 and the birth rate 33.6. As will be seen from the Table, 1968 was the third year in the past ten years in which the total was below 100,000, and was the fifth year in a row in which the number of births registered fell as compared with the preceding year. The Table also shows that the birth rate has fallen continuously in each of the eight years since 1960, when the rate was 37.1. The highest rate recorded was 39.7 in 1956. As compared with 1967 the year's birth rate of 21.14 per thousand of population was down 1.86.
164. There is a distinct quarterly pattern of births in Hong Kong as illustrated in Table XXXV, which shows in graphical form that the peak of births is always reached in the last quarter of the year. Births then decline sharply in the next two quarters touching the lowest point usually in the second quarter of the year. Thereafter a marked increase is always registered in the third quarter, and the upward trend continues until the highest point is again reached in the fourth quarter. Births in the year under review followed this typical pattern, but as in recent years with more moderate quarterly fluctuations when compared with earlier years due to a further decline of the overall number of births.
165. Table XXXVI gives the births registered in 1966, 1967 and 1968 by district. This shows that in 1968 the numbers registered on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and New Kowloon, and in the New Territories dropped by 2,100, 1,989 and 1,090 respectively, represent- ing falls of 9.7%, 3.9% and 6.9%.
166. On Hong Kong Island decreases occurred in all areas except Western District, where births registered rose by 618. In Kowloon and New Kowloon there were increases of 906 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and 122 at Kwun Tong. Decreases were, however, recorded elsewhere -1,445 at the Sung Wong Toi Road Registry, 309 at Yau Ma Tei,
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