7.22 per cent of the total number of births were illegitimate, in
Sweden, 10.52 per cent, and in Denmark, 9.45), yet the average
proportion for Europe is-much more favourable, ■ although both
Gorin(iiiy and France, as well as a few other countries,, have
a higher illegitimate percentage than Norway. In Russia, the
number of illegitimate births is strikingly small — 2.78 per cent
—, which may be chiefly ascribed to the very early marriages in
that , country. In Norway, too, the number of illegitimate births
was considerably lower in former times than it has been during
the last 50 years, amounting, during the last third of the previous,
century, to only about 5 per cent of the entire number of births.
The number of births at which more than one child came
into the world, seems to be about the same in Norway as in
Europe generally. .
With regard to the frequency of births at the various seasons
of the year, it may be remarked that the largest number of
children are born in September, and the fewest in November, the
number for the years 186(1 188o being. 176 and 141 respectively
in the 24 hours, for births in general. Of the four quarters of
the year, the spring quarter, March to May, showed the greatest
average number of births in the 24 hours, viz. 163, while from
June to August, there were 151. The annual average for the
above period of 20 years was 158.50 per 24 hours. This greater
frequency of births in the spring quarter, which is also found in
several other countries, has both, social and physical causes.
The number of births is not dependent only on the number
of married, or rather adult women, but also on their fecundity.
This is comparatively good as far as Norway is concerned. According
to a calculation for the years 1871—1880, there is the following
annual number of births p (T 100 women, of ages from
15 to 50: in Norway 12.90, Sweden 12.50, Denmark 13.20, Galicia
17.50, and France 10.60.
If, on the one hand, the number of married women in childbed
be compared with the total number of married women of
ages from 15 to 50, and on the other, the number of unmarried
women in child-bed, with the total number of unmarried women
of the same ages, the comparison will be found to be favourable to
Norway, the percentage of fecundity in married women being relatively
high, while it is not so in a corresponding degree in the
case of the unmarried women.
The age of the mothers is of great significance to their fecundity.
According to calculations based upon the census of 1875, and upon
the number of births during 1875 and 1876, the following numbers
of births occurred in Norway in "<$16 several age-classes. (For
purposes • of comparison, similar calculations according to S und-
BiBG, for Sweden, Denmark and Germany, for the years 1881 1890,
are subjoined.)
Per 100 married women in each' age-class, there was the following
annual number of births:
Age*) Norway . Sweden Denmark Germany
15—20 54.80 50.80 72.90 59.30
I -20—25 48.00 44.80 49.10 50.40
25—30 40.70 37.50 39.10 40.50
30-^35 35.00 32.20 31.50 29.90
35—40 28.90 25.60- 24.00 22.10
- 40—45 17.60 14.601 12.00 10.20
45—50 4.00 2.20 1.30 1.30
I t thus appears that fecundity in Norway, as in other lands,
is greatest in the youngest age-class, but that it diminishes much
more slowly in Norway than in the other countries. The youngest
class, however, ■ is 'n o t very- numerous in Norway, and does not
yield even 1 per cent of the total number of births. The greatest
number of these, namely rather more than a fourth part, are by
mothers in the 30—35 years’ class, and an -til in ost equally large
number in the preceding 5 years, while not quite an eighth part
came in the 20—25 years’ class. The largest number of fathers
- about 25 per cent — were also between 30 und 35 years of
age, while about 20 per cent came in the preceding and succeeding
periods of 5 years.
The average age of the parents, which shows the' average
distance between the generations,, was, in the case of legitimate
children in Norway, in the period 1881—1885, 35.60 years between
the fathers and their children, and 31.90 years between the mothers.
and their children. In the case of illegitimate births, the fathers’
average age during the same 5 years was 28.20, and the mothers 26.40.
•) For Norway, IP /a—1972, and so on.