This Document Has Been Created by AHDS History and Is Based on Information Supplied by the Depositor SN 3454
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This document has been created by AHDS History and is based on information supplied by the depositor SN 3454 - Demography of Sri Lanka, 1900-1954 Study Documentation AHDS HISTORY EXPLANATORY NOTE: This document is, almost in its entirety, a transcription of the original documentation. There are, however, some differences with the original, in that this new documentation contains a look up table with information about the various tab delimited data files, and in that some wordings and spelling mistakes in the original file have been corrected. DOCUMENTATION BEGINS Notes on data provided: This project involved establishing computer files containing information from the censuses of Sri Lanka and from vital registration for the period 1900-1954 inclusive. Data from vital registration were included (If available) for every year. Census data were obviously only available for census years i.e. 1901, 1911, 1921, 1931 (only a very rudimentary census), 1946 and 1953. The following data were included in files, if available (gaps in files indicate the data concerned were not available). All data come from the Reports of the Registrar General of Ceylon on Vital Statistics, from the Ceylon Government Gazette and from census reports. LOOK UP TABLE: The data is presented as tab delimited data files organised in folders. The folders correspond to the original data files deposited in AHDS History in a Lotus 123 format, which is not longer usable. The following is a look up table explaining what data is kept in which folder. Folder name Content of folder Sl1901chwk1 1901 census data for entire Sri Lanka population and by races for all races separately sl1901cswk1 1901 census data by races: all races together, all races separately, and districts: Colombo and Negombo sl1901cswk2 1901 census data by districts: Colombo, Negombo, Kalutara, Kandy and Natale, for Tamils only and for all races sl1901cswk3 1901 census data by districts: Galle, Jaffna, Mannar, Mullaitivu and Nuwara Eliya, for Tamils only and for all races sl1901cswk4 1901 census data by districts: Batticaloa, Hambantota, Kurunegala, Matara and Trincomalee, for Tamils only and for all races sl1901cswk5 1901 census data by districts: Anuradhapura, Badulla, Chilaw and Puttalam, for Tamils only and for all races sl1901cswk6 1901 census data by districts: Kegalla and Ratnapura, for Tamils only and for all races sl1911cswk1 1911 census data for all races separately, and in the Colombo district for Tamils only and for all races sl1911cswk2 1911 census data by districts: Kalutara and Kandy, for Tamils only and for all races sl1911cswk3 1911 census data by districts: Jaffna, Mannar, Matale and Nuwara Eliya, for Tamils only and for all races sl1921cswk1 1921 census data for all races separately, and in the Colombo district for Tamils only and for all races sl1921cswk2 1921 census data by districts: Kandy and Kalutara, for Tamils only and for all races sl1921cswk3 1921 census data by districts: Jaffna, Mannar, Matale and Nuwara Eliya, for Tamils only and for all races sl1931cswk1 1931 census data for all Sri Lanka, and for the district of Colombo for Tamils only and for all races sl1946cswk1 1946 census data for all races separately, and by districts: Galle, Kandy, Anuradhapura, Badulla, Batticaloa, Chilaw, Hambantota, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kegalla, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Tricomalee and Vavuniya, for all races together sl1946cswk2 1946 census data for Tamils only by districts: Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Anuradhapura, Badulla, Batticaloa, Chilaw, Hambantota, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kegalla, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matale, Mullaitivu, Nuwara Eliya, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Tricomalee and Vavuniya, and for Tamils across Sri Lanka sl1953cswk1 1953 census data for all races separately, and for districts: Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Anuradhapura, Badulla, Batticaloa, Chilaw, Hambantota, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kegalla, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Tricomalee and Vavuniya for Tamils only and for all races together sl1953cswk2 1953 census data for Tamils across Sri Lanka, and for districts: Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Anuradhapura, Badulla, Batticaloa, Chilaw, Hambantota, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kegalla, Kurunegala, Mannar, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Tricomalee and Vavuniya. slvsbmthwk1 Registrations of births for 1940 and for 1950 to 1954 slvsbswk1 Registrations of births for 1900 to 1954 slvscdqwk2 Registrations of deaths for 1910 to 1921 slvsdaswk3 Registrations of deaths by sex and age in 1920 to 1922 slvsdmthwk3 Registrations of deaths by months and sex for 1937 to 1945 2 A Data from vital registration Numbers of births and deaths and infant deaths, and numbers of deaths from selected causes of death (influenza, pneumonia, all respiratory diseases, malaria, pyrexia, accidents plus violence, unspecified causes), by sex, for each year, quarter and month these for the whole of Sri Lanka, the 21 administrative districts of Sri Lanka (Colombo, Negombo, Kalutara, Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Jaffna, Mannar, Mullaittiwu, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Chilaw, Anuradhapura, Badulla, Ratnapura and Kegalla), five etnic groups (Low Country Sinhalese, Kandyan Sinhalese, Ceylon Tamils, Indian Tamils, Ceylon Moors), the 21 administrative districts of Sri Lanka (all Tamils only), and the estate (plantation) sector of Sri Lanka. Numbers of deaths by age group and sex for each year for the whole of Sri Lanka and for the ethnic groups. Numbers of deaths by age group and sex for the three separate years around each census year, these for the whole of Sri Lanka, all Tamils, the 21 administrative districts of Sri Lanka, and for all Tamils by district [these data can be combined with census data to give rates for the three-year periods around census years]. Numbers of live births and stillbirths by sex for each year 1912-1954 and each quarter 1912-1921 in urban areas of Sri Lanka only. B Data from the censuses Numbers by sex, age group and marital status for all Sri Lanka, the ethnic groups, administrative districts, all Tamils by district, and the estate sector of Sri Lanka [almost none of these data available from the 1931 census]. Numbers aged 5+ by sex and numbers by sex aged 5+ literate and illiterate for the same groups as above [NOTHING FOR 1931]. C Checks earned out on data All possible consistency checks within and between files were carried out. Clear errors in published data were corrected. 1 SUMMARY OF RESEARCH RESULTS A wide range of demographic data from the censuses of Sri Lanka and from vital registration for the period 1926-1954 were entered onto computer files. Since comparable 3 data for the period 1900-1925 had already been established on computer files this meant that the whole period 1900-1954 could be analysed. The intention was to investigate levels and trends in mortality, fertility and nuptiality in Sri Lanka prior to the 1950s. An extensive analysis of the data has been carried out and a paper on the reasons for the decline in mortality that took place in Sri Lanka was published1. The most important finding in this connection is that mortality began to decline about 1920 but that there was a dramatic improvement in the late 1930s. This had been overlooked previously because the data had not been examined in enough detail. The period is difficult to deal with because it is sandwiched between a disastrous malaria epidemic in 1934-35 and the Second World War when mortality increased again. The fact that mortality declined markedly just before WWII is important in the context of the debate that has taken place about the dramatic improvement in mortality that apparently occurred in the late 1940s in Sri Lanka. Some have attributed this largely to the spraying of DDT in the post-war period and consequent suppression of mosquitoes and hence malaria while others have emphasised the improved provision of health services. The fact that mortally fell dramatically prior to WWII strongly suggests that factors were already operating to reduce mortality substantially before the spraying of DDT began. The possible Importance of measures against hookworm disease during the 1930s as well as pre-DDT attempts to control malaria was being assessed. The realisation that hookworm disease in combination with malaria was very important for mortality in Sri Lanka in the pre-WWII period led to the re-examination of previous work on the reasons for excess female mortality in Sri Lanka. A paper already prepared was re-written to suggest that excess female mortally was largely due to the fact that females were more affected by these diseases than males in Sri Lanka. Further research was conducted on changes in nuptiality and fertility. 2 FULL REPORT OF RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS Background Although a great deal of work has been done on the historical demography of the developed world, relatively little research has been carried out in relation to the corresponding (i.e. pre-Demographic Transition) period in the Third World. An Important exception is the volume entitled India’s Historical Demography: Studies in Famine, Disease and Society, edited by Tim Dyson (Curzon Press, 1989). The general problem is one of data, very often there are simply none available at all, where data are available these are often of poor quality. Reasonable data from registration (e. g. of births and deaths) are especially uncommon. 1 See Langford, C. (2002) 'Reasons for the decline in mortality in Sri Lanka immediately after the Second World War: a re-examination of the evidence' in P. C. E Athukorala. (ed.) The economic development of South Asia, v. III, Cheltenham: Elgar Publishing. 4 SKI Lanka has, almost certainly, the best historical demographic data available for any Third World country. Censuses have been taken intermittently since 1871, births and deaths have been registered since 1867. There are good indications that the materials available at least for this century are usable. This project involved exploiting these data to examine changes in fertility, nuptiality and mortality in Sri Lanka during the period 1900- 1954.