the United States of America

The crude birth rate, that is, the number of births (not count ing still-births) per i,000 of the population, was 25.1 in 1915; 23.7 in 1920; 21.5 in 1925; 18.9 in 1930; 16.5 (the minimum so far) in 1933; 17.0 in 1937; and 17.6 in 1938. It may be noted that the trend of the birth rate was rather rapidly downward from about 1920 to 1933. Since that time, however, there has been no marked further decline, and the rate reported for 1938 is higher than that shown for any year subsequent to 1931. It is too early, however, to assume that the check in the downward trend of the birth rate is anything more than temporary.

The number of births in continental United States in 1937 was of the children born, 1,130,641 were males and 1,072, 696 were females.

Marriage and Divorce.-The marital status in 193o of males 15 years of age and over was as follows: Single, 34.1; married, 60.0; widowed, 4.6; divorced, 1.1. For females, the corresponding figures were : single, 26.4 ; married, 6i•I ; widowed, ; divorced, 1.3. The percentage married has increased continuously since 189o, the first year for which these data are available. For males the increase in the percentage married is from 53.9 in 1890 to 60.0 in 1930, and for females from 56.8 in 1890 to 61.1 in 1930. The median age at marriage for males in 1930 was 24.8 years, as corn pared with 25.7 in 1910; for females the median age at marriage was 21.8 years in 1930, as compared with 22.1 in 1910.

The number of marriages reported in 1922, the date of the first of a series of II annual reports on marriage and divorce published by the Bureau of the Census, was 1,134,151, or 10.32 per 1,0oo of the population. In 1932 there were reported only 981,903 mar riages, or 7.87 per 1,000 of the population, this unduly low figure being without doubt the result of depression conditions. Esti mates based on available State reports put the number of mar riages in 1933 at 1,098,000; in 1935 at 1,327,00o; and in 1937 at 1,426,000, these higher figures indicating recovery from the effects of the depression.

The number of divorces reported in 1922 was 148,815, constitut ing 1.35 per 1,00o of the population, and 13.1 per Ioo marriages. In 1932 there were reported 160,338 divorces, constituting 1.28 per 1,000 of the population, and 16.3 per ioo marriages. The number of divorces estimated for 1937 is 250,000, or 1.93 per 1,000 of the population.

Size of Family.-In 185o there were 5.6 persons (excluding the slave population) in the average American family. In 1890

the average number of persons per family was 4.9, and since that time the average has declined at the rate of two-tenths of I person per decade, being 4.7 in 1900, 4.5 in 1910, 4.3 in 1920, and 4.1 in 1930. In 1930, 23.4% of the families in the United States con sisted of 2 persons, 20.8% of 3 persons, and 17.5% of 4 persons, with the largest families in the Southern States and the smallest in the Western.

Education.-In

the article EDUCATION : United States, and in the articles on the several States. details are riven generally of the conditions of American education. Here the statistics of literacy need only be considered. In 1930 illiterates (that is persons unable to write, the majority of these being also unable to read) constituted 4.3% of the population at least ten years of age ; but the greatest part of this illiteracy was due to the negroes and the foreign immigrants. Since 188o the percentage has stead ily declined for all classes save the foreign-born, for which it increased between 188o and 1890 and again between 1910 and 1920, due, probably, to the large scale immigration from southern Europe where the percentage of illiteracy is high. Illiteracy also is less among young persons of all classes than in the older age groups, in which the foreign-born largely fall. Between 1900 and 1930 the reduction of illiterates was from 10.7% to 4.3%. In 1930 classification by races shows that the percentage of illiteracy among negroes was 16.3% (in 1900, 44.5%), foreign-born whites, 9.9% (in 1900, 13%), native whites of native parentage, 1.8% (in 1900, 5.7%), and native whites of foreign or mixed parentage, o.8% (in 1900, 1.6%). Of the races other than white and Negro, the most illiterate were the Indians (25.7%) and Chinese (20.4%). Illiteracy is greatest in the East South-Central (9.6%), South Atlantic (8.3%) and West South-Central (7.2%) sections, and least in the West North-Central (1.4%), Pacific (2.1%) and East North-Central (2.1%) sections. All differences between sec tions are lessened if the comparison is limited to children, and still further lessened if also limited to cities. Increasing literacy in the lower age-groups directly reflects the extension of educa tional facilities from decade to decade. In 1930 Fall River, Mass., had the highest illiteracy percentage, 10.2, and Salt Lake City, Utah, the lowest, o.6.