It has been said that one of the contributory causes of illegitimacy is the contamination of great cities; statistics, however, disprove this, there being more illegitimacy in the rural districts. Table VII. gives the rate of illegitimacy in some of the principal towns of the United Kingdom.
That poverty is a determining factor in causing illegitimacy the following figures, giving the rate of illegitimacy in the poorest parts of London and in certain well-to-do parts, clearly disprove:—
Rate of Illegitimacy per 1000 Births.
| London. | 1901. | 1903. | 1905. | 1907. |
| Stepney | 12 | 9 | 18 | 10 |
| Bethnal Green | 13 | 15 | 13 | 11 |
| Mile End Old Town | 15 | 13 | 16 | 15 |
| Whitechapel | 22 | 24 | 19 | 19 |
| St George’s, Hanover Sq. | 40 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| Kensington | 48 | 44 | 49 | 54 |
| Fulham | 43 | 42 | 45 | 40 |
| Marylebone | 182 | 186 | 198 | 182 |
Tables VIII. and IX. give the rate of illegitimacy for the various counties of Scotland, and Table X. the rate for Ireland.
Bibliography.—The Annual Reports of the Registrars-General for England, Scotland and Ireland; statistical returns of foreign countries; A. Leffingwell, Illegitimacy and the Influence of the Seasons upon Conduct (1892).
(T. A. I.)
ILLER, a river of Bavaria, rising in the south-west extremity of the kingdom, among the Algäuer Alps. Taking a northerly course, it quits the mountains at Immenstadt, and, flowing by Kempten, from which point it is navigable for rafts, forms for some distance the boundary between Bavaria and Württemberg, and eventually strikes the Danube (right bank) just above Ulm. Its total length is 103 m.