Colonial population / by Robert R. Kuczynski.

  • Robert René Kuczynski
Date:
1937
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Colonial population / by Robert R. Kuczynski. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    myself here briefly to characterizing the difference between population estimates and population guesses. For some countries, such as Ethiopia, Liberia, Iran, and Peru, all population figures are wild guesses, and the same is true, for example, of most Spanish colonies where all data for a reasoned guess are lacking. The same conditions prevail in particular areas of many territories, for example, in the 6 unpatrolled 7 regions of New Guinea. In other colonies where the population figures are based on such criteria as the number of huts or the number of natives paying a poll-tax we may speak of a reasoned guess. If, however, the authorities know not only the number of huts but have ascertained in addition for numerous villages in the various regions of the colony the average number of people per hut, or if they have ascertained for numerous villages in various regions of the colony the proportion of the inhabitants paying the poll-tax, they will be in a position to estimate the total population of the colony. They may even be able to make such an estimate if they have taken an actual census for, say, three-quarters of the area of the colony and have some idea of the density of the population in the rest of the colony. The proportion of the colonial population which actually has been enumerated varies greatly for the various parts of the world. In Africa it is only a very small fraction. Moreover, in many colonies where the population has been enumerated the last census was taken in 1921. The most recent figures published there are again either reasoned guesses or estimates. While official data on the total population have been published for every colony, separate figures for males and females are often not available either because no attempt at all has been made to distinguish the sexes or because the population is subdivided merely into adult males, adult females, and children. There are, moreover, many cases where the number of adult males has been estimated on the basis of the known number of taxpayers while the figure given for the adult females is at best a reasoned guess. The figures for children in such cases are, as a rule, without any value, because they suffer from the additional defect that the term 4 child 7 itself is extremely vague.
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