Annual report on Sierra Leone / Colonial Office.

  • Colonial Office
Date:
[1953]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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

    10/112 page 8
    Chapter 1: Population No full census of the population in the Colony area of Sierra Leone hi been taken since 1931, but an enumeration was carried out on 28t December, 1947 ; population estimates for the Protectorate, based o the test counts carried out in selected areas, were made in 1931 and i June, 1948. In all cases the work was done by the administration withoi the aid of any specially trained staff. The results, which are shown i the end of this chapter, are not in any way intended to be a substitui for the next full census, but it is considered that they give some guic to the present distribution of population. The latest estimate for tl whole territory was 2,000,000 at 30th June, 1952. The results of the 1947 enumeration indicate that since 1931 the;) has been an annual increase in the population of the Colony of appro imately 1.5 per cent. How much of this increase is due to immigratic from the Protectorate and how much to natural causes cannot 1 definitely stated, though there was undoubtedly a large influx of laboi to the Colony from the Protectorate during the war years, and it probable that a number of these people have not returned to the] homes. The rate of increase of the population in the Protectors between 1931 and 1948 was about 2 per cent per annum, though it mi again be emphasised that these figures should be treated with caution! There are Africans of many tribes in Sierra Leone, 13 of which a| indigenous, each having a different language. There are no rece* figures of the numbers in these tribes, but it may be said that over per cent of the total African population in the territory is of the Men tribe, and that just under 30 per cent is of the Temne tribe. The Men) and Temne languages are widely spoken in the south and north resp( tively, and for all practical purposes are sufficient for the localit concerned. The only lingua franca is a form of pidgin English, which fairly widespread, though by no means universal. The compulsory registration of births and deaths which has been force for some years in the Colony was only introduced into six Chi doms in the Protectorate in January, 1951. The registrations record in the Colony are probably fairly accurate but those recorded in I Protectorate are so far of little value. In consequence, the only use records available are those which concern the Colony area ; they i as follows : Male BIRTHS Female Total Male DEATHS Female TotT Freetown 1,544 1,509 3,053 815 678 1,49 Rest of Colony 941 948 1,889 730 621 1,35 Totals 2,485 2,457 4,942 1,545 1,299 2,84 Out of 3,053 live births in Freetown 355 deaths at ages under
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