NATURE 



[September i, 192 i 



5,850,319 males and 6,149,617 females, or 1036 

 to 1000 males. There has been during- the 

 hundred years an almost unvarying increase in 

 the proportion of females to males, and at the 

 present census it has nearly reached eleven to ten. 

 It is interesting- to observe, however, that in 

 Scotland, on the contrary, there has been a 

 diminution, the proportion in 1821 having been 

 as high as 1127 to 1000, while that in 192 1 is as 

 low as 1079 to 1000, or less than that of England 

 and Wales. 



This superiority in number of the female sex 

 does not alarm us. Too much has been made by 

 the Press of what are somewhat discourteously 

 called the "surplus women." The numerical pre- 

 ponderance of women over men was 1,322,502 in 

 191 1, and 1,906,284 in 192 1, showing an increase 

 of 583,782 ; but that is not equal to the losses by 

 death in the war, which are estimated at 627,870. 

 Meantime the desire of women to acquire inde- 

 pendence, to "live their own life" in industry, in 

 the arts, and even in science, has been greatly 

 developed, and with it has come a marked increase 

 in the facilities for obtaining a training to fit them 

 for it. When the results of the returns as to age 

 and occupation have been co-ordinated and di- 

 gested, much valuable information as to the social 

 changes which have accompanied the events of the 

 decennium under review may be expected to be 

 derived. 



We stated last year that an increase in the 

 number of items of information demanded ia a 

 census was likely to. lead to a diminutiou of the 

 probability that the returns obtained would be 

 accurate. It is satisfactory to find that the census 

 authorities have to some extent adopted this view, 

 and have left out of the schedule for 1921 the 

 inquiry as to infirmities and the inquiry as to dura- 

 tion of existing marriages and the number of chil- 

 dren born of such marriages, which were both 

 included in the schedule for 191 1. The first is 

 scarcely a fair question, and the wealth of material 

 obtained from the second has not been completely 

 exhausted, so that it became unnecessary to add 

 to it. 



The Registrar General appears to cast a long- 

 ing, lingering look behind on his two lost columns, 

 for he directs attention to the fact that " this is the 

 first time in the modern history of census-taking 

 in this country that an inquiry once introduced 

 into the schedule has been omitted therefrom on 

 a subsequent occasion." However, he has sup- 

 plied their place by two new columns, one as to 

 NO. 2705, VOL. 108] 



the number and ages of children under sixteen, 

 including an inquiry as to orphans, and another 

 as to the place of work. He thinks, and we agree 

 with him, that the limits of expansion have now 

 been approximately reached, and we hope that in 

 future the principle that information should be 

 valued, not for its quantity, but for its trustworthi- 

 ness, will be borne in mind. 



This leads to the consideration of the important 

 provision of section 5 of the Act of 1920 by which 1 

 the Registrar General is authorised ^to enter into ' 

 relations with other Government Departments so 

 as to further the supply of statistical information 

 and provide for its better co-ordination. Much 

 appears to have been done by him already with 

 that view, and now that the Act has established 

 the work of taking the census upon a permanent 

 footing, more may still be expected to be done. 

 By this means the Census Oflfice may face the 

 problem presented to it of so presenting the in- 

 formation it acquires as to give the maximum of 

 useful service to the nation at the minimum risk 

 of annoyance to the individual. 



In pursuance of the steps taken to procure con- 

 certed action in making the separate censuses of 

 the Dominions and other Colonies, this preliminary 

 Report contains a table of the population in 192 1 

 of Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the 

 Indian Empire, and the Union of South Africa, 

 amounting in the aggregate to 370 millions. 



In addition to the general results, of which we 

 have briefly specified some of the more outstand- 

 ing features, the details are given for each , 

 county, county borough, municipal borough, and., 

 urban and rural district of its population in 191 1 

 and 192 1, and of the acreage, affording material 

 for ascertaining instructive facts relating to density 

 of population and the changes that have taken 

 place in the decade. 



For Greater London an increase is shown during 

 the ten years from 7,251,358 to 7,476,168, or 3 per 

 cent., which is much less than the increase re-, 

 corded at the five previous censuses. Indeed, inj 

 that portion of Greater London which comprises! 

 the Administrative County of London and the City! 

 of London, which showed a decrease of 03 per 

 cent, in the census of 191 1, there is a further 



i decrease of 09 per cent, in that of 192 1, falling 



I from 4,521,685 to 4,483,249. 



The perfection of the numerous mechanical con- 

 trivances used for the first time on the present 

 occasion has no doubt been of much service in' 

 the preparation of the Report. 



