Demographics of the British Empire
By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the world population at the time.[1]
Population
[edit]Territorial population distribution of the British Empire (1925)[2]
The following table gives the population of the British Empire and its territories, in several different time periods. The most populous territory in the empire was British India, which included what are now Pakistan and Bangladesh.
| Territories | 1814[3] | 1881[4] | 1901[5][6] | 1913[7] | 1925[2] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 16,456,303 | 34,884,848 | 41,458,721 | 45,649,000 | 47,307,000 |
| British India | 40,058,408 | 253,896,330 | 294,361,056 | 303,700,000 | 318,942,000 |
| British Africa | 128,977 | 1,526,110 | 43,000,000 | 52,000,000 | 47,993,000 |
| Other Asian colonies | 2,009,005 | 3,347,770 | 5,638,944 | 26,300,000 | 13,373,000 |
| British North America | 486,146 | 4,522,145 | 5,600,000 | 18,000,000 | 9,047,000 |
| Australasia and Pacific | 434,882 | 2,837,081 | 5,486,000 | 7,603,000 | |
| European dependencies | 180,300 | 359,403 | 650,000 | 656,000 | |
| British West Indies | 732,171 | 1,216,409 | 2,012,655 | 1,600,000 | 2,012,000 |
| Total British Empire | 61,157,433 | 305,512,568[8] | 400,000,000[9] | 447,249,000 | 449,223,000 |
Ethnicity
[edit]The empire's population was classified into white people, also referred to as Europeans, and non-white people, variously referred to as persons of color, negros and natives.[3][10] The largest ethnic grouping in the empire was Indians (including what are now Pakistanis and Bangladeshis), who were classified into 118 groups on the basis of language which were amalgamated into seven "principle groups".[11] The following table gives the population figures for white people and non-white people, in the empire and its territories, in 1814 and 1901.
| Territories | 1814[3] | 1901[12] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White people | Non-white people | White people | Non-white people | |
| United Kingdom and home dependencies | 16,636,606 | ? | 41,608,791 | ? |
| British India | 25,246 | 40,033,162 | ? | 294,191,379 |
| British Africa | 20,678 | 108,299 | 1,000,000 | 33,499,329 |
| Other Asian colonies | 61,059 | 1,947,946 | ? | 5,144,954 |
| British North America | 486,146 | ? | 5,500,000 | 100,000 |
| Australasia and Pacific | 35,829 | 399,053 | 4,662,000 | 824,000 |
| British West Indies | 64,994 | 667,177 | 100,000 | 1,912,655 |
| Total British Empire | 18,001,796 | 43,155,637 | 53,040,468 | 335,672,317 |
Religion
[edit]The British authorities were primarily Protestant Christians throughout the history of the Empire.[13][14][15][16][17]
The following table gives the population figures for the religions in the British Empire in 1901. The most populous religion in the empire was Hinduism, followed by Islam.[18]
| Religion | Population | % of total population |
|---|---|---|
| Hinduism | 208,000,000 | 52.4 |
| Islam | 94,000,000 | 23.7 |
| Christianity | 58,000,000 | 14.6 |
| Buddhism | 12,000,000 | 3 |
| Paganism and others | 25,000,000 | 6.3 |
| Total British Empire | 397,000,000 | 100 |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Maddison 2001, pp. 97 "The total population of the Empire was 412 million [in 1913]", 241 "[World population in 1913 (in thousands):] 1 791 020".
- ^ a b "Area and Population of the British Empire". Historical Atlas of the British Empire. 1925.[dead link]
- ^ a b c Patrick Colquhoun (1814). A Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World, Including the East-Indies: The Rise and Progress of the Funding System Explained. National Library of the Netherlands. p. 7.
- ^ Census of the British empire: 1901. Great Britain Census Office. 1906. p. xviii.
- ^ Census of the British empire: 1901. Great Britain Census Office. 1906. pp. xvi & xviii.
- ^ Lugard, Flora Louise (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 606. notes that "the census returns for 1901 from the various parts of the empire were condensed for the first time in 1906 into a blue-book under the title of Census of the British Empire, Report with Summary".
- ^ Maddison 2001, pp. 97 & 241
- ^ Smith, George (1882). The Geography of British India, Political & Physical. Oxford University. J. Murray. pp. 3.
- ^ Census of the British empire: 1901. Great Britain Census Office. 1906. p. xvi.
- ^ Lugard 1911, p. 607.
- ^ Lugard 1911, p. 606.
- ^ Lugard 1911, pp. 606–607.
- ^ Porter, Andrew (1992). "Religion and empire: British expansion in the long nineteenth century, 1780–1914". The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 20 (3): 370–390. doi:10.1080/03086539208582877.
- ^ "War, Religion and the British Empire, 1757-1872". 23 April 2010.
- ^ Ballantyne, Tony (2005). "Religion, Difference, and the Limits of British Imperial History". Victorian Studies. 47 (3): 427–455. doi:10.2979/VIC.2005.47.3.427. JSTOR 3830222. S2CID 144368015.
- ^ Pestana, Carla Gardina (June 2011). Protestant Empire: Religion and the Making of the British Atlantic World. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812203493.
- ^ Strong, Rowan (26 July 2007). Anglicanism and the British Empire, C.1700-1850. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-921804-2.
- ^ a b Lugard 1911, pp. 614.
Further reading
[edit]- Maddison, Angus (2001). The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective (PDF). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. ISBN 92-64-18608-5. Retrieved 22 July 2009.