The increase of the population in England and Wales is
still very rapid. According to the statistics for 1889, just published by the Registrar-General, the births in that year were 885,179, and the deaths 517,968, an increase of 367,211 within the twelve months, without allowing for immigration. That is a good solid colony added to the population every year. The total number now exceeds twenty-nine millions, or six times the population of Ireland, which was once much more than half our own. The births of men exceed those of women by 16,411, so that the disproportion between the sexes in favour of women is due entirely to emigration and occupa- tions abroad. But for these intervening causes, the number of the sexes would be nearly equal, the excess of male deaths being more than fourteen thousand. At the present rate of increase, the population of England and Wales will in 1970 be at least sixty millions,—rather a formidable prospect if it were certain that the rates would keep steady. There is, however, no certainty of the kind.
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