Annual report on Nyasaland / Colonial Office.

  • Great Britain. Colonial Office.
Date:
[1952]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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

    23/154 (page 21)
    PART II Chapter I. Population The last census of the African population in Nyasalanxl was taken in 1945. All the field work was of necessity done by African enumerators with little supervision and the census was not claimed to be any more than a useful and fairly accurate estimate of the African population. Previous censuses were taken in 1921, 1926 and 1931 while annual population estimates, largely based on the tax registers, are available dating back to 1901. The substantial fluctuations which occur from year to year indicate that these annual estimates are not very reliable. A system of recording simple vital statistics was introduced in 1947. It is at present restricted to recording African births and deaths, district by district. Individual details are not recorded, nor are any certificates issued. Reliance has to be placed on the African village headman whose duty it is to collect such information in respect of his village for transmission to the Native Authority and on occasion the system breaks down. The registration of African customary marriages is carried out in almost all parts of the Protectorate, but the data available is by no means complete, while details of the birth, death and infant mortality rates are unavailable and likely to remain so for some time to come. In the conditions outlined above it is only possible to speak in general terms of African population trends. The population is increasing steadily, being estimated at the end of 1952 to be 2,453,506 compared with 2,392,031 at the end of 1951. Between 1921 and 1931 the African population had increased by one-third and the 1945 census figures showed an increase of rather more than one-third on the 1931 figures. Thus the estimated African population had very nearly doubled in 25 years, but a considerable proportion of this increase must be attributed to immigration into the Southern Province from Portuguese East Africa. The number of men estimated to be absent from the Protectorate during 1952 was 150,000, an increase of 2,000 over 1951, the majority being in Southern Rhodesia. A large percentage of these absentees, particularly those in the Rhodesias, return regularly to their homes and remain in close touch with Nyasaland. The European and Asian populations continued to increase. Details of European births and deaths have been kept since 1901, and since 1920 immigration and emigration statistics in respect of Europeans and Asians have been compiled. Registration of all non-African births and deaths is compulsory. The relatively small size of the