MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 1976
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BIRTHS AND DEATHS REGISTERED IN 1975
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FEWER BIRTHS AND DEATHS WERE REGISTERED LAST YEAR THAN IN 1974, ACCORDING TO FIGURES RELEASED TODAY BY THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, MR. WALTER HUMBE,
THE NUMBER OF BIRTHS REGISTERED IN 1975 WAS 78,200, WHICH WAS 3,679 FEWER THAN THE 1974 FIGURE OF 81,879, WHILE THE NUMBER OF DEATHS REGISTERED DECREASED BY 859 TO 21,191.
ALTHOUGH THE DECREASE IN REGISTERED BIRTHS WAS ONLY ABOUT 4.4 PER CENT, MR. HUME SAID IT WAS SIGNIFICANT IN THAT 1975 WAS THE FIRST YEAR SINCE 1971 IN WHICH THE TOTAL OF REGISTERED BIRTHS SHOWED A DECREASE AS COMPARED WITH THE PRECEDING YEAR.
THE GREATEST NUMBER OF BIRTHS REGISTERED IN ANY ONE YEAR WAS IN 1963, WHEN 115,263 WERE REGISTERED. THEREAFTER THE NUMBER DECLINED EVERY YEAR UNTIL THE DOWNWARD TREND WAS REVERSED IN 1972.
OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF BIRTHS REGISTERED LAST YEAR, 76,157 WERE CHINESE (39,703 MALE AND 36,454 FEMALE) AND 2,043 NON-CHINESE (1,051 MALE AND 992 FEMALE).
A TOTAL OF 20,017 WERE REGISTERED ON HONG KONG ISLAND, 43,944 IN KOWLOON ÅND 9,239 IN THE NEW TERRITORIES. THESE REPRESENTED DECREASES OF 4.59 PER CENT, 2.25 PER CENT AND 14.66 PER CENT RESPECTIVELY AS COMPARED WITH THE 1974 FIGURES.
IN ISSUING THESE FIGURES, MR. HUME EMPHASISED THAT THEY WERE IN RESPECT OF REGISTERED BIRTHS ONLY. THERE ARE ALWAYS A NUMBER OF BIRTHS EVERY YEAR WHICH ARE NOT REGISTERED BY THE PARENTS AT THE TIME, WITH THE RESULT THAT WHILE THE FIGURES FOR THE REGISTERED BIRTHS SHOW TRENDS, THEY DO NOT GIVE A COMPLETELY ACCURATE PICTURE,+ HE SAID.
THE TOTAL NUMBER OF REGISTERED DEATHS COMPRISED 20,891 CHINESE (11,457 MALE AND 9,429 FEMALE AND 5 UNKNOWN SEX) AND 300 NON-CHINESE (208 MALE AND 92 FEMALE)
THE NUMBER OF REGISTERED DEATHS OF INFANTS UNDER ONE YEAR OF AGE WAS 1,173 AS AGAINST 1,421 IN 1974, WHILE THAT OF INFANTS UNDER ONE WEEK OLD WAS 671 COMPARED WITH 717 THE PREVIOUS YEAR.
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