LAW OF POPULATION ILLUSTRATED 171 



1880 the registered average death-rate rose at a bound 

 from 16 - 4 to 18 '3 per 1000 persons, and reduced 

 the life-term by more than six years, making it 54 

 years and 236 days. 



It is obvious that where vital statistics are un- 

 reliable, the error is always of defect and never of 

 excess. 



My information as to the vital statistics of the 

 different countries of Europe is drawn from the annual 

 reports of the Eegistrar-General of England, and 

 from that part of them which is entitled " International 

 Vital Statistics." The earlier reports carried the 

 columns that give the annual births, deaths, and 

 marriages as far back as to the middle of the nine- 

 teenth century, where it was possible to obtain them 

 from the foreign bureaus. But in some countries 

 systematic registration was not introduced until a 

 later period. The Eegistrar-General has but recently 

 introduced into his annual reports the registered 

 statistical details of Eussia, Eoumania, Japan, and 

 Chili, and also of our Australian colonies. 



With the exception of the statistical information 

 which Malthus derived from his Swedish authorities, 

 which have a certain approximation to accuracy, all 

 the vital statistics with which he was furnished by 

 the different bureaus of Europe were such as statistical 

 experts of the present day would, at a glance, fling 

 aside as impossible rubbish. 



But even Malthus was staggered by the vital 

 statistics of Eussia which he obtained from St. 



