BIRTH CONTROL. This term is the popular name for con trol of conception, the deliberate restriction of births by chemical and mechanical means, instead of by abstention from intercourse. The term was probably first used by Mrs. Margaret Sanger in The Woman Rebel (April 1914).
The use on a large scale of contraceptives is a modern phenom enon. The prosecution in 1877 of Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant, for selling, in order to establish freedom of publication, a pamphlet by Dr. Charles Knowlton entitled The Fruits of Philosophy, gave enormous publicity to birth control methods, and a Malthusian League, with Dr. Drysdale as president, was immediately established to continue the propaganda in favour of small families. The League started a periodical, and Dr. Drysdale and his wife, Dr. Alice Vickery, devoted their lives to writing and lecturing on the need of spreading the knowledge of contra ception, especially among the poorest class.
They maintained that the two fundamental needs of food and love could be satisfied only through contraception, and that poverty, sex starvation, and promiscuity could only be avoided by early marriages and small families. In 1881, by their assistance, a Dutch neo-Malthusian League was established, followed by similar leagues in Belgium, France and Germany. In 1921 the League opened a clinic in South London, where a doctor instructed poor mothers in the Mensinga method. In 1922 it held in London the Fifth International Neo-Malthusian Conference.
The American Birth Control League was organized in 1921 themselves in a declining birth-rate. Before the century there was nearly a population equilibrium. Between 1750 and 1800 the population of England and Wales rose from 6,5oo,000 to 9,000,000. In the 19th century, influenced by great national prosperity and the development of preventive medicine, the pop ulation rose from 9,000,00o to over 32,500,000. This amazing advance reached its height in 1876. Thereafter a decline in the birth-rate set in which still continues.
Under the auspices of the American Birth Control League, Inc., the Sixth International Neo-Malthusian and Birth Control Con ference was held in New York city, March 1925.
These data, said the report of the National Birth-Rate Commis sion, amount to a complete statistical demonstration that fertility is closely correlated with social status. The more prosperous the social class the lower is the fertility. This initial difference is not removed by subsequent differential mortality in the offspring in favour of the more wealthy classes.
America and Australia, like Europe, have the same problem to face, and there is evidence that the same phenomenon can be observed in India. No doubt, special causes play a part in each case. In France the provisions of the Code Napoleon, which insist on the division of property tend in the same direction. Social difficulties connected with religion operate in India.
Thus a differential birth-rate has arisen as a consequence of the practice of restriction by the higher social classes. For a population to maintain its numbers unaltered it is necessary, Prof. Whetham estimated, that families should consist of "not less than four children." A nation which produces three children to the fertile marriage has, therefore, a birth rate of three-quarters of that necessary on this basis to maintain its position.
As regards the quality of population of the world, the prime question arises "Have we any reliable criterion of desirability in respect of races and race blends? Is there any evidence that a mispopulation of the earth is taking place, in the sense of a refusal of `higher' and intrinsically fitter races to multiply, while lower and intrinsically less fit peoples are spreading more numerously over the earth?" The necessary limitations of our knowledge about human qualities and their relative values for the civilization of the future, as well as our racial and patriotic biases, render it impossible to give a confident answer to these vital questions. There is recent evidence to indicate that the supposed differences of inherent racial qualities are much slighter than has been alleged, and that education and cultural environment explain the greater part of what we considered ethnical differences.
The Commission, which consisted of 43 members representing medicine, science, economics, and statistical, educational and religious interests, issued its first report in 1916, entitled The Declining Birth Rate, its Causes and Effects. A second appeared in 192o, on Problems of Population and Parenthood; a third in 1921, on The Prevention of Venereal Disease; and a fourth in 1923, entitled Youth and the Race. The Commission heard over 7o expert witnesses on all aspects of these problems and published for the first time the views of the Catholic Church, the Church of England and the Free Churches on the ethical aspects of birth control. The Commission's enquiry was made in four directions: (I) the extent and character of the decline ; (2) the alleged causes; (3) the effects; (4) the economic and national aspects. These reports were presented to the various departments con cerned, the Ministry of Health and the Board of Education; and extensively circulated and reviewed throughout the British empire and America. Mr. Sidney Webb described the report thus : "The Commission has produced the most candid, the most outspoken, and the most impartial statement that this country has yet had as to the extent, the nature, and the ethical character of the voluntary regulation of the married state which now pre vails over the greater part of the civilized world." Economic Aspect.—In the section of the report dealing with the economic aspect some expert witnesses maintained that there is no sufficient reason to conclude that the reduction of the birth rate of Great Britain has been inimical to the well-being of the nation. Others maintained that if a higher birth-rate or a check upon further reduction be deemed desirable, or if an improve ment in the character of the birth-rate can be obtained, such reforms would be facilitated by certain social-economic changes —amongst which are greater security and regularity of income, equalization of opportunities for education and for technical and professional training, conducive to a greater equalization of income and of standards of living—not only would reduce the extreme risks of poverty, but would weaken those motives of mingled timidity and social ambition which, especially among superior artisans and the middle classes, promote late marriages and small families. The physical and mental inferiority of the most fertile social strata, except in the mining districts, is indisputable; but the Commission stated that the greater part of this class inferiority is probably due to bad environment, and it deprecated the tendency to identify the economic elite with the psycho-physical elite. It could not accept the hypotheses that the broad distinctions be tween the social classes are but the effects of germinal variations, and is satisfied that environmental factors which cannot be sensi bly modified by individuals exposed to them, however gifted, often prevent the utilization of natural talents. Some have advo cated State bonuses for families, in the form of State-aided insur ance when the earnings do not amount to 1200 a year, for all chil dren who attain the age of 14 years to secure further education and a better start in life. The means of husband and wife should be considered separately in computing income-tax, as the present arrangement penalizes marriage ; within the range of incomes, say below £700 a year, there should be substantial remission of the tax on parents for each child. Facilities for a good cheap educa tion above the standard of the elementary school should be greatly increased ; and in all schools scholarships or aided education should be given to children of large families.
The degree of the value of human life depends on its inborn character and its environment. An increase of population in a given country is, therefore, good unless by reason of its size and constitution it definitely lowers the normal standard. The strongest argument prima facie in favour of restriction is the working class contention that large families, so far as they imply an increase in the number of wage-earners, tend to reduce wages or to prevent their increase, so favouring a restricted distribution of wealth injurious to the normal standard of life. A few years ago the Women's Co-operative Guild, which had a membership of 32,000, instituted an enquiry amongst working women upon their maternal experiences. The report is a human document of much value. It contains the letters of many working women detailing the con ditions as to their food, rest and medical care before child-birth. These conditions in the large majority of cases were so bad that the report concluded : "These letters give the skeleton of individual lives and individual thoughts and feeling ; but in these facts and thoughts and feelings one can see clearly the general mould of life and the sweep of the current of general opinion which is among the working classes, resulting in the refusal to have children." Inadequate housing accommodation is regarded as one of the chief causes of restriction. This has necessarily been accentuated by the World War, and for some years to come the deficiencies cannot be made good, and must continue to be inimical to the normal and desirable growth of a healthy population.
In dealing with the wider problem of birth control, the Com mission said that when we look beyond our own shores the possibility of an increase along with improvement of the popula tion becomes manifest. There are vast territories in Canada and Australia which are very sparsely peopled, and are not yielding in food for human sustenance and raw material for human in dustry what they might. The rise of prices throughout the world can be met only by a much fuller development of the incalculable natural resources of such lands, a development which is waiting an increase of population. Can we resist the pressure of Asiatic immigration without provoking antagonism, if not worse, while we are not making full use of the lands which we are resolved to keep "white"? If we value our national type should we not desire its diffusion, for the sake even of the backward types, that they may be advanced by our influence to a better standard of life and thought? Britain must, in view of these considerations, regard with gravest concern her falling birth-rate, and take such practical steps as may be within her power to arrest the decline, and, if possible, restore the rate to a higher figure. That an increase in quantity is desired is clear, but it must be an increase in quality as well. The crux of the problem is to increase the supply from good stocks, precisely the stocks which possess the important qualities of foresight and self control. It cannot be supposed that the Dominions will accept emigrants from feeble stocks, which there, as here, become a burden on the industrious. Their men are anxious to avoid that catastrophic condition in By filching all the substance of the fit We make the rotten multiply on it.
In 1924, The National Birth-Rate Commission established a special committee, consisting of representatives of medicine, public health, education, sociology and religion, under the presidency of the bishop of Winchester, to investigate further the ethical aspects of birth control. This report was published in May 1925, together with the evidence taken. Four of the conclusions of the committee may be quoted : (1) The use of contraceptives is a symptom of the artificial character of our civilization whereby for large numbers of people a simple, healthy, normal married life is difficult, and in some cases all but impossible. (2) There are numerous cases in which control of conception, considered in itself and apart from the question of the methods employed, is medically necessary and economically advisable, but in every such case all the circum stances should be weighed in the light of the best available scien tific and ethical counsel. (3) The ideal method of birth control is self-control. Such self-control must be agreed upon by husband and wife and be carried out in a spirit of service and sacrifice. Therefore, so far from giving any general approval to the use of contraceptives, the line of real advance lies in a deeper reverence, a return to greater simplicity of life and, not least, a drastic reformation of our social and economic conditions. (4) The weightiest argument for birth control is found in the economic circumstances (wages, grossly inadequate housing, and the like) of many persons. While in many instances birth control by con traceptives may be the lesser of two evils, the ultimate remedy lies in the amelioration of these conditions.
The terms of reference to the medical committee were:— I. In using the term "medical" it is intended to make an inves tigation into the restriction of families by whatever methods it is accomplished and its effect on the bodily and mental health of the individuals concerned.
2. Under the term "Health" are included the relevant biological (physiological and psychological) factors which affect the normal life.
3. Among the particular problems which it is proposed to in vestigate are : (a) the medical reasons for the exercise of conception control; (b) the effect on health of sexual abstinence, partial or complete, in married life ; (c) the reliability as a preventive against conception of the so-called "safe period" with the relevant physio logical and biological problems; (d) the effect of the use of various contraceptives on (i) the subsequent fertility t of the persons (ii) the health 3 concerned.
The committee took evidence from a number of expert wit nesses and from the medical representatives of various birth control clinics. Their report states : On the subject of statistical data regarding the efficiency of contraceptives the amount of scientific knowledge as to the effi ciency of contraceptives based on statistical data is very small. On this subject exact information could only be based on the collection of scientific data extending over a period of years. Such statistics would have to be accurately compiled from reliable observations extending over the whole period of the reproductive life of men and women.
American witnesses have helped the committee by reporting the organization of a scheme in New York for investigating contra ception from every point of view. Some years must elapse before results on a considerable scale can be expected.
Apart from possible data hereafter obtainable from the scien tifically organized investigations adumbrated in that scheme, the committee are unable to regard as satisfactory many statistical statements as to the relative success or failure of various contra ceptive methods for preventing pregnancy. The statistics which have come to their knowledge have not been compiled in such a manner as to give confidence in the results as stated.
Before giving their own conclusions as to this evidence, the com mittee directed attention to two sources of error which appear to vitiate much that has been written on this subject : (i ) A considerable proportion of marriages are sterile apart from disease or from the use of contraceptives.
(2) In normal experience of married life, the average intervals of child-bearing are much longer than is commonly supposed ; and the facts do not bear out the impression that might be gathered from much of the writing on this subject.
In the ordinary married life of the young, usually an interval of about two years elapses between births; and after the age of 3o this interval usually increases. This has been the experience of large communities before modern "birth control" was known. Hence to speak of an "avalanche of babies" as almost inevitable unless special preventive measures are taken is inaccurate and mis leading. The above statements represent average experience; in cases of too rapid child-bearing special advice is desirable.
In view of the above facts, the medical committee have little doubt that contraceptives are frequently employed when, if they were not employed, conception would not occur.
(2) That this number is probably increasing rapidly.
(3) That the reduction in the birth-rate is partially, and perhaps chiefly, due to the increasing use of contraceptive methods.
(4) That judging from experiments on animals, diet may have an influence on fecundity in human beings; though, in view of the variations of fecundity in different communities in which no difference of diet has been detected, this remains to be proved.
The medical committee considered in much detail the various methods advocated for birth control from abstinence to sterili zation through irradiation by radium or X-ray. For a full account of these details the reader is referred to the report itself. The committee also received a large body of evidence pointing to the effects of certain diet deficiencies on fertility and considered the effects of the use of contraceptives on the health of indi viduals.
Men may be psychically upset by the use of a mechanical agent ; they may be temporarily less potent or impotent, but gen erally speaking it may be said with confidence, their health does not suffer. It should not be forgotten that there is danger if the man is dissatisfied, domestic happiness may be ruined by his seeking satisfaction by other means or elsewhere, and with the risk of contracting venereal disease.
With regard to the woman, evidence brought before the medical committee suggests that in cases in which, on medical grounds and on account of an already large family, where contraceptives are used this use may perhaps bring about a certain degree of improvement in their general health owing to the freedom from anxiety as to the possibility of pregnancy, in increased happiness on the part of all those in the home, and in better outlook and greater affection. Some women, on the other hand, suffer from irritability of temper or more serious effects on the nervous system.
Poverty, deficient housing accommodation, etc., are not within the scope of a medical enquiry.
Where the use of contraceptives is called for, discrimination in the methods to be employed is necessary. Two important fac tors are the questions whether the avoidance of conception is to be temporary or permanent, and whether it is to be regarded as essential or merely expedient.
"We are of opinion," says the medical committee, "that no impediment should be placed in the way of those married couples who desire information as to contraceptives, when this is needed for medical reasons or because of excessive child-bearing or poverty. In this matter the welfare of the family, and especially of the children, should determine the common practice ; and this welfare is not secured when there is only one child, or where too long intervals elapse between the birth of children." This medical enquiry was followed in 1928 by an economic enquiry by the same Commission.
Further, inasmuch as the propagation of these varying capac ities, these good and bad qualities, from generation to generation, is no longer determined by natural selection only, but has passed under human control, it becomes of the utmost importance that such artificial control shall be directed along right lines to worthy ends, that is, to ends which make for racial improvement and not for racial decay.
Among the factors which exercise a great influence over the future of mankind that of the quality of the human life produced is the most important.
The mental attitude therefore which regards the exercise of any voluntary control over the production of offspring (otherwise than by prolonged abstinence, which is impracticable and may have serious consequences in the case of young, normally con stituted married persons) is one which fails to recognize the great change which has occurred in the method of human evolution, whereby natural selection has been largely superseded by artificial selection under human control.
But before man can exercise any effective control over the quality of human life produced he must be able in some measure to control its quantity also. He must also be able to determine not only the number of children in each family, but also the intervals between each birth.
The growth of physiological knowledge concerning the con ditions under which fertilization normally occurs, and of the means by which it can be prevented, has placed within man's reach the possibility of controlling the number and rate of produc tion of offspring. This is a necessary step towards the attainment of control over the quality of offspring produced. But it is also essential that this recently acquired knowledge should be applied to worthy ends. It is freely admitted that such knowledge may be used, and in some cases is at present being used, for selfish and unworthy ends. The remedy however does not lie in the curtail ment of knowledge, but in its wider spread to all sections of the married population, poor as well as rich.
At the same time, and along with this diffusion of knowledge as to the methods of contraception, must also go sound instruc tion, reinforced by religious and moral appeals, concerning the responsibility which rests on all married citizens of normal capac ity and sound parentage to set racial before individual interests, and to fulfil, with due regard to hereditary conditions and environ mental circumstances, their duty as parents to the next generation.
Under modern conditions of life it is not possible in many cases to carry out the duties satisfactorily without the exercise of control over fertility.
It may be that the methods of contraception as now practised will give place in the future to more refined, more effective, and better methods as our knowledge grows." The Religious Problem.—It is now recognized that the ob jections on religious grounds to birth control must be fully faced. These objections can be best stated by taking the position of the Roman Catholic Church which is shared by many other religious communities. His Eminence, Cardinal Bourne, archbishop of Westminster, has had the f ollowing outline specially drawn up for this article, and it may be taken to express on the highest authority the religious objections :— "The teaching of the largest organized body of Christians in the world has an inherent interest of its own. The Catholic doctrine is embodied in the constant and universal tradition of the Church, and has been the subject of repeated instructions from the Holy See. It is not a matter of theological opinion, but is the considered judgment of an authority which every Catholic knows cannot err in defining Christian morals. For a Catholic this is sufficient, but if a reasoned analysis of the position is desired, it may be explained as follows: "i. There is no law requiring married people to have large families and if they wish to live in continence they are entitled to do so, but they are absolutely forbidden to exercise the act of generation and frustrate its natural purpose. Birth prevention is prohibited because it is wrong, with an initial fundamental wrongness antecedent to any ecclesiastical law or tradition. The prohibition is based on a principle of natural morality, which no human authority can change or dispense, and which can be ac cepted by non-Catholics, provided their moral conduct is not based on an ethical philosophy at variance with Christianity.
"ii. Just as certain physical laws govern non-rational things, so also in the human being there is a law regulating the exercise of his faculties and the satisfaction of his desires, whether indi vidual or social. In his free and deliberate movements man should act in accordance with the law of his being, which because of this distinctive element of freedom is called the "moral" law; actions performed in harmony with it perfect his nature and are morally good; those which disregard it are morally bad. The wrongness of certain actions may be demonstrated to some extent by examining their subsequent effects on the individual or on the race. It is a line of enquiry offering a strong contributory argument, and the physical, domestic and social evils attendant on birth prevention have been indicated elsewhere. But, except on a principle which is frankly utilitarian, it falls just short of a complete demonstration of the wrongness of contraception. This must be sought primarily, directly, objectively and intrin sically in the action itself, not merely in its effects. In a complex organism the good of the whole is achieved by employing the parts each in accordance with its natural purpose. Birth prevention is wrong for the same reason that any other unnatural sexual vice is wrong, namely, because sexual pleasure is gratified in a manner which frustrates the natural purpose of the action.
"iii. The moral or natural law is a participation in the rational creature of the eternal law of God, Who has fixed the sanction of punishment to its non-observance. Birth prevention is su premely evil because it is sin, i.e., an offence against a personal God, the fear of Whom is the beginning of wisdom, and experience shows that the fear of committing sin is the only adequate reason deterring people from this practice.
"iv. An action which is intrinsically and naturally evil can never for any reason be tolerated, no matter how pressing the circumstances which appear to justify it, and no matter how good the intention of the agent may be. Anything short of a rigid and logical application of this principle would be permitting the patently immoral doctrine that the end justifies the means.
"v. The admitted difficulty of observing this law is lessened from the fact that Christian marriage is a sacrament, and the grace it bestows carries with it a title to the special assistance of God, enabling married people to surmount the difficulties of their state, the burden of rearing children, and the observance of con tinence in circumstances where conception must be avoided at all costs short of sin. It is, moreover, a sacrament symbolizing the union between Christ and the Church (Ephesians v. 25-32), by which human beings, raised to a supernatural dignity, co operate with God, in peopling Heaven with the sons of God." In conclusion, it may be said that the problems of the persistent decline of the birth-rate, its causes and effects, and of the wide spreading practices of contraception, are very complex, and the difficulties tend to become more accentuated with the expansion, and international relations and organization, of industry, the pressure and re-distribution of population, and the increasing demands of modern civilization upon the physical, mental and moral resources of the family and the community. No one nation can deal with such a many-sided problem for itself alone. It has already become a world-wide problem, and international authori ties regard its full consideration as one of the primary and urgent tasks of the League of Nations. (J. MA.) Medical Aspects.—Though, obviously, like every other ques tion, the subject of birth control can be approached from a strictly scientific point of view, it is extremely difficult to do this owing to the peculiarly intimate and secretive character of the sexual func tion in man. Probably the view ultimately taken by any individual as to its justifiability or unjustifiability will depend upon that in dividual's natural characteristics. The biologically minded will not be impressed by theological objections, the naturally religious will minimize biological arguments, while the selfish or self-in dulgent will go his or her own way regardless of any abstract sociological, biological, moral or theological views. Intrinsically, there is to many something revolting in the thought of artificial interference with the natural consequences of one of the highest functions of human association and it is difficult to believe that such action, persisted in, does not react injuriously upon the higher attributes of men and women. Here it is probable there lies one of the main points of difference between the biologist and the theologian. The biologist has greater regard for future genera tions, i.e., the child ; the theologian greater regard for the present generation, i.e., the parents.
The medical practitioner holds an intermediate position, but one with greater leaning towards the present generation. He takes men and women as they are, and to a large extent leaves the question of the children "upon the knees of the gods." On the one hand, he recognizes that there are women whose health, happi ness and efficiency are being impaired by too frequent preg nancies; on the other hand, he sees restless, dissatisfied, neurotic women whose sexual instinct, he has reason to believe, is unduly stimulated without those periods of natural quiescence induced by pregnancy and attention to the newly-born infant, whose maternal instinct is repressed in greater or less degree, whose main in terests are social rather than domestic. Primarily, he is not in fluenced by economic considerations, but, taking as his base line the normal healthy married couple, he feels that the best results for all concerned follow from a wisely restrained natural exercise of the sexual function with the probable result of a medium-sized family. Nevertheless, he is quite prepared to find that the wife, at all events (mainly because of the tedium of pregnancy, the fear of parturition, the restraint imposed by lactation and the care of a young family), leans towards the practice of birth con trol, and the husband acquiesces from the view that the matter concerns his wife to the greater extent. And this although, from a strictly medical point of view, an opposite course is indicated and recommended. No doubt the immediate question mainly con cerns the woman, but it implies a future more than a few years ahead, and then husband and wife are concerned more equally. Children are not to be had for the asking, and many couples who have practised birth control during the early years of married life remain childless to the end, contrary to their wishes, pre sumably because secondary changes in the generative system have rendered conception impossible. (X.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The Declining Birth Rate: its Causes and Effects Bibliography.-The Declining Birth Rate: its Causes and Effects (1916), Problems of Population and Parenthood (192o), Ethics of Birth Control (1925), Medical Aspects of Contraception (1927), being the medical report of the National Birth Rate Commission ; Marie Stopes, Wise Parenthood (1918) and Contraception (Birth Control) (1923) ; Lord Dawson, Love, Marriage, Birth Control (1921) ; Lady Florence Barrett, Conception Control (192 2) ; A. N. Carr-Saunders, The Population Problem (1922) ; The Control of Parenthood (1922) and Medical Aspects of Birth Control, edited by Sir James Marchant; Dr. Matthews Duncan, Fecundity and Fertility (1866) ; C. J. & J. N. Lewes, Natality and Fecundity (1906) ; Report of the Women's Co-operative Guild on the maternal experiences of working women; W. J. Robinson, Fewer and Better Babies or the Limitation of Off-spring (18th ed., 1915) ; The American Birth Control League, One Hundred Years of Birth Control. Cf. any manual of Moral Theology: De Matrimonio s.v. ONANlsMUS; Cronin, Science of Ethics (Dublin, 1909) ; Halliday G. Sutherland, Birth Control (1922) ; Rev. T. Flynn, Ph.D., "The Moral Argument against Birth Control," Dublin Review, Oct. 1923 ; Rev. Henry Davis, S.J., Birth Control Ethics (1927), a commentary on the 1925 report of the special committee of the National Council of Public Morals.
This rate is usually expressed in terms of the number of births occurring annually in each thousand of the population under review. Thus, if in a population of one million there were 20,400 births in a given year, the birth-rate for that year would be 20.4. The rate thus obtained, known as the "crude" birth-rate, is a positive measure of the reproductive forces which are actually operating at the time in the population to which it refers. From what follows, it will be seen that it is not, neces sarily, a sound basis for comparing the relative fecundity of the population of a given area with that of other areas, or even with its own when, in course of time, changes in its age-constitution have taken place. Under conditions in which the only factor was the physiological one, the birth-rate would be determined, firstly by the proportion of women of conceptive ages in any given population and, secondly, as fertility declines with the advance of years, by the proportions of such women at the lower and higher ages.
To make this latter point clear, it may be mentioned that in England and Wales, fertility is highest at ages 18 to 22, and be comes negligible after the age of 45. A thousand women, at ages ranging between 20 and 3o years, in equal proportions, would normally give birth to nearly twice as many children in a year as would be borne by the same number of women equally dis tributed over the ages from 3o to 4o. But the birth rate is influ enced by other than purely physiological conditions.
In the greater part of the civilized world, the proportion of children who are illegitimate to the total born is small, so that the proportionate number of married women, and their relative ages, constitute the main factors in the determination of the birth Other influences, social and economic, come into play with vary ing force. For example, it is clear, from what has been said, that, if the age of marriage is, for any reason, advanced, the numbers of married women at the most fertile period will be lessened, and the legitimate birth-rate will decline. Again, in most countries, deliberate restriction of births is practised to a greater or less extent and is, undoubtedly, one of the most potent factors in the rapid decline which of recent years has characterized most countries for which the facts can be ascertained.
Amongst white races generally, the maximum birth-rates for which satisfactory records are available are those which were prevalent at the beginning of the second half of the 19th century when the rates stood in the region of between 3o and 4o per thousand of the population per annum. The fragmentary evidence of earlier times suggests that there may have been both down ward and upward phases in trend from time to time but that on the whole the level was a high one and the fluctuations small in comparison with the decline which commenced in most European countries about the period 187o-188o and has continued prac tically without interruption down to the present time.
Here the fall was stayed at the beginning of the present cen tury, to be resumed again during more recent years. From these tables it will be seen that the positive fall in their respective birth-rates during the 6o years under review has been: New Zealand . 24.9 Belgium . . 18.0 Netherlands . 16.9 Germany . . 22.0 Scotland . . 17.8 Italy . . . England&Wales 21.6 Norway . . 17.2 Denmark . • 14.9 Australia . . 19.3 Sweden . . 17.0 France. . . 11.o Switzerland . 17.0 If, however, we take the percentage decline during the period covered. the order becomes: New Zealand . 61% Germany . . 54% Denmark . . 46% England&Wales6o% Norway . • 54% Netherlands . 46% Sweden . . 55% Australia . . 54% France . . 42% Belgium . . 54% Switzerland . 52% Italy . . . 41% Scotland . . 5o% In the whole of the countries under review, with the exception of Australia, New Zealand, France and Italy, the decline during the present century has been much more rapid than it was during the 25 years preceding. It is unfortunately impossible to give similar figures for the United States, as the area in which births are registered has only recently included more than half the population of that country. In 1917 when the births related to over 5o% of the total population, the rate was 24.7; in 1924, when it related to over 75%, it had fallen to 22.6; in 1925 it was 16.8, so that it appears that the declining trend is also evident in that country. All these figures relate to white races, and it is not easy to give reliable statistics for races of a different stock.
It will be seen, however, that during this century this rate has varied but slightly, and exhibits little of the declining tendency which is so widely spread among Europeans. In Ceylon, with a population made up mainly of Sinhalese, the rates were: 1901 1913 1926 . . . • • 37.5 38.6 42.0 34.4 This gives a slight rise over the first quarter of the present century. . From the foregoing, it is evident that birth-rates vary, not only in terms of time, but also from area to area, from country to country, from race to race. The figures already given show European rates in 1935 ranging from 13.8 in Sweden, to in Italy, the latter being 69% higher than the former. The Japa nese rate is double that obtaining in France, while that for Cey lon is considerably more than twice that of England and Wales.
As has been already stated, these crude birth-rates should not be used as standards for comparing fertility, but they show how far the forces of reproduction are functioning in the countries to which they relate, and for this purpose are indispensable. A rate based on the numbers and proportions of married women of conceptive ages is a better standard for comparing fertility-but it is a fertility rate and not a birth-rate. Moreover, to serve its pur pose effectively, it must be weighted and corrected to allow for the differing proportions of the younger to older women in the populations under review. It is not possible in the compass of an article of this nature to discuss the various theories which have been and are still being put forward to account for some part of the variations shown. Brief mention may, however, be made of one or two. The birth-rate is in inverse ratio to the social scale it is highest among labourers, etc., and lowest among the profes sional classes. One obvious cause is that the marriage age is much higher among the professional classes than among the unskilled workers. Again, in England and Wales it was highest in the min ing areas, and lowest in those carrying on the textile trades, or engaged in agriculture. Early marriage among miners and late marriage among agricultural labourers again accounts for much of the difference between these two classes. In the textile industry the employment of large numbers of married women in the fac tories may tend to lower the birth-rate.
A problem of considerable sociological interest has been created by the lowness of the levels to which birth-rates have now fallen in the majority of countries mentioned in this article. Below the 20 per I000 mark the birth-rate soon enters a region in which it becomes increasingly insufficient to maintain a population at its existing strength; and nations with the lowest rates—amongst which the English speaking countries are conspicuous—will soon be faced with the prospect of declining populations unless there is a material increase in their birth-rates in the near future.
One curious feature is the persistent preponderance of male over female births in European and Asiatic countries. See SEX