B. Births,
26. Table 2 shows the number of births recorded and the birth rate per mille according to the population estimates from 1984 when the present Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance was introduced.
TABLE 3
Deaths registered.
Year
No. of Deaths
Registered
Death rate using estimated population
1926
12,516
17.62
1927
14,761
19.93
TABLE 2.
Number of Births recorded.
1928
14,736
19.21
1929
17,565
21.89
1930
--- ་ན་ཝཾ
16,268
19. 4
Year
No, of Births
Registered
Birth rate using estimated population,
1931
18,797
22.36
1932
19,829
24.74
1934
20,886
22.11
1993
18,161
22.11
1936
26,037
25. 9
1934
19,765
20.92
1936
27,383
1935
27. 8
22,193
22.00
1936
1937
32,303
25.19
26,356
28.60
1937
1988
35,893
34,636
27
24. 3
1938
1939
38,818
26.25
46,675
26. 7
1939
------
1940
48,283
27. 6
45,064
24.73
1940
61,010
39.48
1941
45,000
27.44
1941
61,324
37. 4
1942
10,343
Not available
1942
83,435
Not available
(Japanese occupation)
(Japanese Occupation)
1943
20,732
11
1943
40,117
想
1944
13,687
**
1944
24,936
כן
1945
3,712
1945
23,098
1946
$1,098
20. 1
1946
16,653
10. 7
1947
42,473
24. 9
1947
13,231
7.6
1948
47,475
26. 4
1949
54,774
29. 5
1948 1949
13,434
7. 5
ปาศ
16,287
8. 8
36. In addition to these births 302 post-registered births were recorded.
37.
Legislation was introduced in December 1947 to permit re-registration of births recorded in the registers which were destroyed or lost during the Japanese occupation. A total of 381 births were registered under this Ordinance.
The post-registered and re-registered births are not included in the figure of 54,774 above.
38.
C. Deaths.
Table 3 shows deaths registered and the death rate per mille based on the estimated population.
39.
40. As in 1947 and 1948 some comment is needed on the very low death rate recorded. As stated above these figures must be accepted with very considerable reserve but the only doubtful factor is that of the population figure, and all other evidence suggests that this population figure errs, if anything, on the low side.
41. It becomes necessary, therefore, to look for some explanation of the remarkably low death rate and the explana- tion lies most probably in the age distribution of the population. Here again no accurate figures are available but the majority of the people who have come to Hong Kong since the reoccupation have come here to obtain work and it is reasonable to assume that they belong to the younger age groups. This explanation is supported by the fact that the number of births recorded during the year was very nearly four times the number of deaths.