The Birth Deficit in Germany
Before the war, the German Empire, with average annual totals of 2,000,000 births and 1,200,000 deaths, had an annual excess of births over deaths of about 800,000, or from 12 to 14 per thousand inhabitants. In 1927 there were only 1,160,000 births, or 18.3 per thousand of population; 757,000 deaths, or 12.0 per thousand, and an excess of births over deaths of 403,000, or 6.4 per thousand. The annual excess of births over deaths has thus dwindled down to half that of the prewar status.The excess of births over deaths that is still recorded today is, however, a delusion that arises from the present peculiar distribution of the age groups. An analysis freed by means of refined methods of research from the accidental data of the distribution of the age groups reveals our true demographic position today. According to this adjustment of statistics, the