Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1962-1963 — Page 41

Births Registered

105. The number of births registered in 1962 was 111,905, com- prising 110,473 Chinese (57,097 male and 53,376 female), and 1,432 non-Chinese (755 male and 677 female). Table XXII gives (a) the numbers of births registered during the years 1953 to 1962 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 1962 was the highest ever recorded, exceeding by 1,023 the previous record in 1960. As compared with 1961 the 1962 total was 3,171 up, but the 1962 birth rate of 32.8 per 1,000 of population was down 1.4 from the 1961 rate; but owing to the estimated influx of over 200,000 immigrants whose age and sex composition is not known no firm conclusion may be drawn that there has been a true decline in the birth rate in the sense that women were having fewer babies. The percentages of male and female births remained unchanged at 51.7 and 48.3 respectively. The number of non-Chinese births, namely 1,432, was also the highest ever recorded. The percentages of male and female births at 52.7 and 47.3 showed a greater preponderance of males than in the case of Chinese births, where the percentages were 51.7 and 48.3 as for all births. The detailed figures kept by the General Register Office reveal a distinct pattern in the incidence of births throughout the year. In the first place, the number of births recorded in the fourth quarter of the calendar year is invariably higher than those in the other quarters; in the second place, the number of births in the second quarter of the year has always been lower than the other quarters except in 1958 and 1959 when the births in the first quarter were the lowest. The 1962 births conformed to the usual pattern, and in fact the number of births regis- tered in October 1962 was at 11,417 the highest ever recorded in one month.

106. Table XXIII shows registered births in 1960, 1961 and 1962 by districts. This shows that while the number registered on Hong Kong Island remained virtually stationary there were increases of 1,374 in Kowloon and New Kowloon and of 1,458 in the New Territories, the latter being proportionately a much higher increase. On the Island drops of 438 and 474 at Western District and Tung Wah Hospital were more than balanced by increases of 586 and 369 at Eastern District and Aberdeen. In Kowloon and New Kowloon there was a further decline of 1,314 at Kwong Wah Hospital and a further increase of 2,410 at the

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