Annual report on Northern Rhodesia / Colonial Office.

  • Colonial Office
Date:
[1951]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on Northern Rhodesia / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    23/126 page 11
    Chapter 1: Population Northern Rhodesia’s European population has almost doubled itself during the past five years. This was revealed when the preliminary figures of the 1951 census of population, taken on the 8th May, were announced. The total European population recorded on that day was 37,221, comprising 20,153 males and 17,068 females. The 1946 census had shown that there were 21,907 Europeans in the Territory, but that total included over 3,000 Polish evacuees, the majority of whom sub¬ sequently left the country. The Western Province was shown as having the largest number of Europeans, the total of 20,450 reflecting an increase of over 8,500 on the 1946 figures, a greater increase than in any other Province. Other big increases were recorded in the Central Province, where the popu¬ lation had risen by over 4,000 to 10,047, and in the Southern Province where 4,781 Europeans were recorded, some 2,300 more than in 1946. The only Province which showed a decrease over the past five years was the Northern Province, whose European population in 1951 was 574 compared with 898 in 1946. This was due mainly to the fact that since 1946 the Fort Rosebery and Kawambwa Districts had been transferred from the Northern to the Western Province. The census showed that 5,458 Europeans were living in the ad¬ joining townships of Kit we and Nkana and their immediate neighbour¬ hoods. In terms of its European population, therefore, this centre now ranks, after Salisbury and Bulawayo, as the third largest in the two Rhodesias. The 1951 census also showed that the total number of Coloured persons in Northern Rhodesia had increased since the last census from 804 to 1,092. The rate of increase was even higher among Asiatics whose population rose from 1,117 in 1946 to 2,529 in 1951. Africans in employment on May 8th numbered 228,676, an increase of more than 87,000 on the 1946 figures. It was estimated that this total represented approximately 75 per cent, of the employable Africans in the Territory. The three major activities absorbing African em¬ ployees were the mines (about 40,000), agriculture (about 35,000) and domestic service (about 30,000). These figures were not reflected in the census returns but were estimated by the Department of Labour 11
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