Data Available for the Study of Fertility in Great Britain

Abstract

The study of population statistics began with an interest in mortality data. The fundamental instrument for the study of mortality—the life table—was developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and correct methods for constructing these tables were known in the nineteenth century. When civil registration began in this country in 1837, the principal questions essential to the study of mortality were asked at death registration: information was obtained about the sex, age and profession of the deceased person, as well as about the cause of death. In conjunction with census data, detailed studies of mortality became possible in 1841. Although some of the information collected has become more accurate than it was 125 years ago, particularly in respect of the cause of death, essentially the system has remained unchanged since the beginning of vital registration.