ILLEGITIMACY

illegitimacy may be measured in different ways. one way is to state the number of illegitimate births in every 1,000 births as in table i. the range of variation there shown between different countries is much more striking than the variation between different times in the same country. where the figures are small they may be incomplete. statistics are not given for the united states as a whole; in new york the rate is in the neighbourhood of 12, and in pennsylvania, 20. in countries affected by the war the rates were generally highest during the war period; thus, in germany, the rates in the periods ioii-4, 1915-8, igi19g-22 were o4, 115, 109; in hungary, they were 90, 104, 76; in france, 87, 132,132 (the last for 1919 only). taking the rates as recorded, two causes might account for this: it might be due to a rise in the number of illegitimate births, or, as in this country, chiefly to a fall in the total number of births; the second movement sometimes disguises the other. but it must be borne in mind that the figures for successive periods are not really comparable for countries with altered territories. a better method of measurement is to refer illegitimate births to the total of unmarried women at fertile ages. thus, from the date when the decline of the birth-rate in england began, about 1876--80, to 1919-23, the number of legitimate births, per 1,000 married women between the ages of 15 and 45, had fallen 44%; the number of illegitimate births, per 1,000 single and widowed women between the same ages, had fallen 46°4; while the number of illegitimate births per 1,000 of all births had only fallen about illinois two percent.: table ii. shows the illegitimate rates, calculated by this better method, in a few countries for which data are avail- able in a pre-war and a post-war period. the trend, though in some cases slight, is downward, and we know that the same trend was apparent in earlier years. this does not necessarily imply a rise in the standard of morality: it may denote an in- creasing use of means to prevent conception. in table iii. the number of illegitimate births in england and wales in 1921, expressed per 1,000 of the total census population, is analysed according to locality and according to extent of urbanisa- tion. the third column shows these rates as percentages of the rate for the country as a whole. the last column represents an attempt by the registrar-general to allow for the number of potential mothers among the unmarried at different ages between 15 and 45 in each locality or class of area; for this purpose certain standard fertility rates applicable to different age-groups are used, and the actual births are compared with the ‘ expected ’’ births. the rates are higher in wales and the northern counties than in the southern and midland counties. the more accurate index also emphasises the highness of the rate in rural districts. these differences are in part due probably to differing degrees of familiarity with the use of con- traceptive measures. (see population.) table i. afean number of illegitimate births per 1,000 of all births, excluding stillborn country england and wales . scotland. : north of ireland spain . y switzerland netherlands denmark norway sweden?4 finland japan . ; south africa australia’ new zealand? '1913-4. 21918. * white population. 4 these figures are doubtless explained, in part at any rate, by a form of betrothal known as trial marriage. table ii. mean number of illegitimate births per 1,000 unmarried women, aged 15 to 45 den- mark nor- way fin- land nether- zer- lands ind 3 5:0. as 20 ' 1919-22. table ill. zhegetimate births in england and wales, 1921, according to (<1) locality, (b) extent of urbanisation actual births as percentages hiegitimate rates as of births births per | percentages {which would 1,000 of of that tor have oc- total england and | curred with population wales the standard fertility rates england and wales . 1-02 100 100 a. northern counties i-12 110 109 midland 1-00 98 99 southern ; 0-92 go 88 (including london) wales . . ; 1-03 io] iii b. london... 0-89 87 79 county boroughs i-09 107 103 other urban districts 0-96 o4 o4 rural districts . 1-07 105 120 (dcs j) 407