Swaziland report / Commonwealth Relations Office.

  • Great Britain. Office of Commonwealth Relations.
Date:
[1966]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Swaziland report / Commonwealth Relations Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/166 (page 7)
    By international standards the urbanization rate is very small, the largest settlement, Mbabane, having a population of only 13,803. There are five other towns and villages controlled by Government or municipal boards and six other settlements controlled by companies. The different basis of enumeration from census to census makes identification of the main internal migration trends difficult, but growth has clearly been fastest in the east with the establishment of large irrigated plantations in the Lowveld producing mainly sugar. Southern Swaziland is constantly being denuded of population, mainly males, and inward migration into this area is insignificant. The African component had a higher degree of mobility than either the population of Tanganyika in 1957 or that of South Africa in 1960, only 78.7% of the population being enumerated in the district in which it was born. The proportion of persons born in Swaziland has declined consistently over the years to 89.6% in 1966. In each component the proportion varies from 91.5% for the African to 55.9% and 14.7% for the Other non-African and European components respectively. Almost 80 % of the foreign born Africans were born in South Africa and a further 17% originated in Portuguese East Africa. The pattern is similar for Other non-Africans. The 1966 census showed two significant changes in the pattern of birth-places of the European component — a decline in the proportion of those born in South Africa at the expense of those born in Portuguese East Africa and the United Kingdom, particularly the former. Direct questions on citizenship were not asked in 1966. Of the non-Swazi in the African component, who comprised 6.4 %, the Shangane were the most numerous, closely followed by the Zulu with the Nyasa and Sutu the only other tribal groups of significant size. As enumerated, the resident population comprised more females than males, there being 91.3 males to every 100 females. The masculinity rate varies considerably between components, age groups and tribal affiliation. For the African component it is 90.6, for the European 120.8 and for the Other non-African component 102.4 males per 100 females. Only in the Lubombo District do African males outnumber females and this is the result of in-migration for work in the sugar industry. Of the tribal groups, the Nyasa and Shangane are more strongly masculine than others, particularly in the working age groups from 15 to 64 years. For the Swazi there are 89 males to every 100 females, with lower rates for the Zulu and Sutu. The rate clearly varies from place to place as economic opportunities present themselves. The population is comparatively young but again considerable variations may be noticed when the age structure of each component and tribe is examined. The table below shows the proportion of broad age groups of each component. Percentage Distribution by Broad Age Groups Component 0-4 5-14 15-64 65+ and not stated African 17.2 29.7 48.7 4.4 European 12.8 16.9 66.2 4.1 Other non-African 21.4 30.3 46.1 2.2 All components 17.1 29.4 49.1 4.4