Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1971-1972 — Page 63

Births Registered

174. The number of births registered in 1971 was 76,818, comprising 75,009 Chinese (38,660 male, 36,349 female), and 1,809 non-Chinese (899 male, 910 female). Table XXXIV gives (a) the number of births registered during the years 1962 to 1971 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 1971 decreased by 647 from 77,465 in 1970 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, 1971 was the sixth year in a row in which the total was below 100,000, and the eighth 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 nine years since 1962, when the rate was 33.4. The highest rate recorded was 39.7 in 1956. As compared with 1970 the year's birth rate of 18.99 per thousand of population was down 0.66.

175. 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 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.

176. Table XXXVI gives the births registered in 1969, 1970 and 1971 by district. This shows that in 1971 the numbers registered on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and New Kowloon, and in the New Territories dropped by 146, 431 and 70 respectively, representing falls of 0.76%, 0.92% and 0.63%.

177. On Hong Kong Island, decreases were recorded in most areas, exceptions being the General Register Office, where births registered rose by 22, and Queen Mary Hospital, where there was an increase of 681, mainly due to the opening of an additional general maternity ward. In Kowloon and New Kowloon there were increases of 305 at Kwong Wah Hospital, and 398 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Decreases were, however,

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