More people are being married in Britain—a sign of better times. Twenty-eight thousand nine hundred and fifty-six more people were married in England and Wales during the first quarter of 1934 than in the same period of 1938. There were 906 more babies born, with boys 4,177 in excess of the girls, both the general death rate and the incantile mortality rate declined. According to the Registrar-general's returns, the number of live births registered during the first quarter of this year was 149,508, which corresponds to an annual rate of 15 per 1,000 of the estimated mid-year population for 1933. "Of these live births 76840 were males and 72,863 females, giving a proportion of '1,057 males to 1,000 females. The average proportion in the ten preceding first quarters was 1,048. 'The deaths registered numbered 146,000 and were 23,- '928 more than in the preceding quarter, and 23,974 fewer than in the corresponding quarter of 1933. They comprised 74,328 males and. 71,683 females, 'The death rate' was 14.7 Per 1,000 of the population, or 24 per 1,000 below that recorded during the first quarter of 1933. The mortality of infants under one year of age was equal to 78 per 1,000 registered live births. This rate was 33 per 1,000 below the average of the ten preceding first quarters. The natural increase of population by excess of births over deaths was
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