# M 15
# BIRTHS.
The births registered during the year were as follows :—
Male Female Total Chinese 1,386 727 2,113 Non-Chinese 154 153 307 Total 1920 1,540 880 2,420 Total 1919 1,462 732 2,194This gives a general civil birth rate of 4.36 per 1,000 as compared with 4.3 in 1919 and 4.1 in 1918.
The birth rate among the non-Chinese civil community was 19.78 per 1,000 as compared with 20.16 in 1919 and 22.07 in 1918.
The nationality of the non-Chinese civilian parents was as follows: - British 104, Portuguese 71, Indians 43, American 14, Malay 13, Japanese, Dutch and Filipino 6 each, Spanish and French 3 each, Siamese, Brazilian, Arabian, Mauritian, Russian, Danish, Parsee and Persian 1 each.
The birth rate amongst the Chinese as calculated from the registered births was 3.96 per 1,000 as compared with 3.9 per 1,000 in 1919.
An accurate calculation of the Chinese birth rate is impossible as many Chinese births are not registered owing to a native custom of not registering children unless they have survived for at least one month, and also owing to the constant flow of people to and from the mainland of China.
Many children of about one month of age and less are left sick at the various convents or abandoned dead in the streets, on the hillsides and in the harbour.
The number of such during 1920 was 1,746.
If it be assumed that all those children were born in the Colony but not registered, this would bring the total births to 4,166 and the general birth rate to 7.61 per 1,000, while it would bring the Chinese birth rate to 7.23 instead of 3.96 per 1,000.
The preponderance of male over female registered births is very marked among the Chinese, there being for the year 1920 190 males to every 100 females (215 to 100 in 1919 and 194 to 100 in 1918).
In the non-Chinese population the proportion of male to female births during 1920 was 100.6 to 100 (120 to 100 in 1919 and 102 to 100 in 1918).