Population

Abstract

The principal sources of population data are official censuses, administrative enumerations, and registration records. For many countries in Africa, and some in Asia, these only began in the twentieth century, often only after the Second World War; and the quality of their coverage has not always been particularly good. Historical coverage of different countries, therefore, varies widely in scope and reliability. Table Al gives the statistics from all the censuses and official enumerations which have been conducted in these two continents and Oceania which were in their intention complete.¹ But since to restrict the table to these alone would provide no data at all for certain countries, and very little for others, the results of certain more-or-less official estimations have been included where these seem likely to be reasonably reliable.