BIRTHS, IZEGIsTRATION OF. The first nation to provide for the public- registration of births was England. Church registers had long been kept, but in 1837 a registrar-general's office was established. The registration, however, was vol untary until 1876. The Continental countries slam adopted the system and made it. complete and effective. in England the still-births arc not. included in the returns, but are recorded sepa rately. On the Continent they are included. As they form 2 or 3 per cent. of the total, this should be remembered in comparing returns.
It is a matter of great regret that no COM prehensive plan is adopted in the United States. _Massachusetts was the first State to undertake registration, and many other States have fol lowed. The returns are far from complete.
The birth-rate is expressed by the ratio of births to 1000 of population. Russia is supposed to have a rate of 49 per 1000. Hungary, with 44. is the highest for countries having registra tion. Germany has 38; England and Wales, 34; France, about 24. The census of 1890 estimated
that in the United States the rate aiming im migrants was 38.29; Dative parents. 26.35: ne groes, 29.07: the total average being 26.68. In all civilized lands about 1050 boys are born to 1000 girl'.
The birth-rate is influenced by social and eco nomic conditions, war, famine, abundance, eta, In all countries the rate decreases among the well-to-do. The city makes its influence felt in a decreasing rate. (See ILLEGITIMACY.) The physiological and social laws governing the birth-rate are as yet but little understood.
Consult : Richard Mayo-Smith, Statistics and Sociology (New York. 1895) : for England, the reports of the Registrar-General : for Germany, Jahrbuch der deutsche?) Stadte; for France, Le vasseur, La population francaisc, 3 vols. (Paris, 1889-92) : for Austria-Hungary. ('ngariselics sta tistisehes Jahrbuch and Osterrcichisches statis tischcs Handburh: for Italy. Annuario statistico.