OCR Text |
Show 1S42 Birth Rate in U. S. Is Highest in 16 Years WASHINGTON. In its first full year of World War II 1942 the nation's na-tion's birth rate was the highest in 16 years and the death rate the lowest low-est on record. The census bureau so reported recently. Births totaled 2,808,996, an increase of 11.8 per cent over the 1941 figure, and deaths, not counting war casualties abroad, numbered 1,385,187, a decline of 0.9 per cent from the preceding year. The birth rate of 21.0 per 1,000 population was the highest since 1926, while the death rate of 10.4 was the lowest yet recorded. Despite an increase of 295.596 in births, both the maternal and infant death rates of 2.6 and 40.4 per 1,000 live births, respectively, were new lows. The respective declines from the previous year were 18.8 and 10.8 per cent. Total deaths were 12.455 fewer than in 1941. |