§ Mr. Ivor Thomasasked the Minister of Health what is the net reproductive rate at the present time, that is, the measure of the extent to which women of child-bearing age are reproducing themselves?
§ Miss HorsbrughThe net reproduction rate, as usually understood, in respect of fertility recorded in England and Wales was. 805 in 1938; but if allowance be made for a continuance of the improvement in survival rates of young women the figure would be raised to. 84. The detailed analyses of the births necessary for the computation of the net reproduction rates of more recent years in England and Wales are not yet completed; but the reproduction rate in future years should be favourably affected by the large increase in the marriages of young women under 25 years of age since 1938.