Estimates of population size and growth from the 1952-54 and 1961 censuses of the Kingdom of Nepal

Abstract The Census of Nepal conducted in 1961 conforms to the generally accepted requirements for a national census. Some doubt could be raised about the previous census as part of the country was enumerated in 1952 and part in 1954. More serious doubts still could be entertained about earlier censuses, including their very existence, though there are persistent rumours that they were carried out every ten years or so since about the middle of the previous century. We have only been able to lay our hands on some data in respect of four earlier censuses: those of 1911, 1920, 1930 and 1941. Little more is available than population totals for some of the component areas from these four censuses, and even then the boundaries and coverage of the component parts are uncertain.     

Estimating Indigenous life expectancy: pitfalls with consequences

The methods used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to estimate life expectancies of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in 2009 have been controversial and require critical and sensitive analysis. The introduction by ABS of the direct method for estimating Indigenous life expectancies, based on estimated deaths and populations, has been generally welcomed. But the way this method has been applied and, in particular, death estimates used by the ABS, warrant scrutiny. These estimates were based on a first ever linkage between Indigenous deaths and census records following the 2006 census. Census-based identification was used in place of identification in the death registrations, rather than as a supplementary data source. The various national, state and regional life expectancy estimates published may have been biased upwards by this process. Because the impact of the methodology varies across Australia, regional differentials reported appear substantial but are not soundly based. The questionable ABS results are highlighted and discussed. Analysis based on more comprehensive linkage of death records in New South Wales over 5?years suggests that the ABS methods have understated Indigenous deaths and so overstated life expectancy. The effect of an alternative ABS approach is also discussed. ABS estimates published in 2009 are not necessarily definitive and may well overestimate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life expectancy and underestimate the life expectancy gap. Estimates should be based on accurate estimates of deaths and population. Consultation and a thorough review are essential before the next round of estimates following the findings of the 2011 population census. Closing the Gap commitments focus on eliminating the life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians. Life expectancy estimates need to be based on methods and data that are well understood and broadly supported. The alternative is unproductive debate about statistics rather than the range of policies and resourcing issues needed to improve Indigenous health.     

Consensual partnering in Australia: A review and 1991 census profile

This paper is the first part of a two-part examination of consensual partnering in Australia. It reviews the Australian literature on consensual partnering, summarizing evidence of its proliferation since the mid-1960s and also the findings of investigations into its nature and the personal attributes that predispose some people more than others to adopt it. It then discusses the shortcomings of Australian census data as a source for studying consensual unions, before using data from the 1991 Census to present the first elements in a comprehensive profile of the cohabiting population. These cover the basic demography of consensual partnering: the ages, marital statuses and family type distributions of those involved. The second author contributed to this paper while a student of Graduate Studies in Demography, The Australian National University. Views expressed are those of the authors, and are not necessarily those of the Australian Bureau of Statistics.     

How censuses aid policymakers

The author discusses the eleventh Asian and Pacific Population Census Conference, held in 1986 in Sydney and Canberra, Australia. The focus of the meeting was on the value of census data for analyzing social policy issues; participants included population experts from Asian and Pacific countries, Canada, and the United States. Topics include literacy measurement, fertility and mortality estimation, studies of the elderly, and preparations for the 1990 round of censuses, including information processing and increased use of automation.     

Stability and change in ethnic identification in Australia: An aggregate level analysis

A cohort approach is used to detect changes in ethnic identification between the 1986 and 2001 Australian censuses. The aim is to observe whether particular ethnic groups were more or less likely to state the same ancestry in 2001 as in 1986. Age-sex specific survival ratios are applied to the ancestry groups in three 15-year age cohorts in 1986 to estimate the number that would have survived to 2001, adjusting for emigration and underenumeration. Some ethnic groups appear to demonstrate remarkable consistency in their ancestry response in the two censuses. Others show an increase in size between the two censuses that could be attributed to differences in the format of the ancestry question and the guidelines and examples provided on the census form. The coding of only two ancestries appears to have contributed to a decrease in the size of some groups.     

A feminist history of Australian midwifery from colonisation until the 1980s

This paper uses a feminist interpretation and secondary sources to describe the history of Australian midwifery from colonisation until the 1980s. There have been too few midwife scholars who have had access to or used primary data collections to describe the role and place of midwives in the colonising community. I draw on a range of biography, medical literature and work by sociologists and economic historians to produce a limited picture of the history of professional midwifery. This helps to explain the position of midwives today and the problematic relationship we often have with medicine.     

Size and structure of the household in England over three centuries

Abstract Data giving sizes and structures of households have been rare for any country before the institution of the official census, and have to be gleaned from surviving documents containing listings of inhabitants. This article, the first of two, describes the collection of listings of inhabitants of English communities which is being assembled by the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure and the methods by which the hundred most informative of them have been submitted to analysis. When ranged alongside the information on mean household size derived from the official British census since its inception in 1801, the results of this analysis suggest the following. 1. Mean household size in England and Wales as a whole was relatively constant at 4·75 or a little below for the whole period from the sixteenth century until 19II, and has only fallen since that date. The reduction of about one-third starting in 1921 may therefore be the first of considerable magnitude ever to occur: it seems to have been particularly rapid between 1911 and 1931. 2. Mean household size in England and Wales has been surprisingly resistant to demographic fluctuation on the one hand and to the structural influences of industrialization on the other, until the last fifty or sixty years. 3. The traditional household in England has never been extended on any definition, at least since the sixteenth century. Mean household size varied with social status, and a majority lived in households of six or more members. But this distribution was due to the very large numbers of servants living in and not to the presence of resident kin, who seem to have been rare. 4. The relationship between fertility, mortality and mean household size is different from what has been supposed. This article ends by registering the paradox that proportion of children in a pre-industrial English community apparently seems to be negatively, not positively, related to its mean household size, and this theme will be taken up in the second article. These four points are illustrated by a series of tables drawn from the analysis of the one hundred communities.     

Differentials in Australian Interstate Migration 1911–21 to 1961–66 by place of birth,Sex and age

Journal of Population Research - Without direct census data on migration prior to 1971, there is a deficit of information on Australian interstate migration this century. This paper uses the Census...     

The Population of Centenarians in Brazil: Historical Estimates from 1900 to 2000

Since the nineteenth century, the census has provided the number of 100-year-olds in Brazil, one of the most populous countries worldwide. In 1900, 4,438 individuals reported themselves to be centenarians, a figure that increased about fivefold by the 2000 census. However, due to data quality issues, we are skeptical about the real size of the recorded population in the Brazilian census. We offer alternative estimates of the most likely number of centenarians during the twentieth century by combining variable-r relations with different mortality models. Our results indicate there was virtually no centenarian at the beginning of the twentieth century. The population has become larger than 1,000 individuals only in the 1990s, suggesting there has been an extensive, although diminishing, overenumeration of centenarians in the census records. Our results can help policymakers to plan the demands of a growing old age population in places that face stricter family and public budget constraints.     

The world's biggest census

The purpose of the 3rd national population census, taken 18 years after "New China's" 2nd census, was to ascertain accurate population figures for China and the spatial population distribution in order to carry out socialist modernization, improve the people's material and cultural lives, and draw up a population policy and program in light of China's actual conditions. The census questionnaire contained 19 items, including 13 for individuals; and 6 items about the household. Preparations for the census began at the end of 1979 even though the census would not begin until July 1, 1982. The preparatory stage included: drafting the Census Statute; conducting pilot censuses in certain areas; rectifying household registration; installing computers; training computer technicians; convening national census work conference and similar conferences at various levels; selecting and training field census workers; printing census forms; and conducting widespread publicity. Pilot censuses were conducted at central, provincial, and county levels in order to draw useful experience for the nationwide census. A large number of census workers were selected and trained. Among them were about a million staff members working in census offices at various levels, 1000 computer technical personnel, 4000 data entry personnel, 100,000 coders, and 1 million census supervisors. 8 million cadres and volunteers at the grassroots actively helped conduct the census. Enumeration and verification was completed between July 1 and July 15, 1982. The postenumeration check on a sample basis showed only a net overcount of 0.15/1000 with an overcount of 0.71/1000 and an undercount of 0.56/1000. All levels of the government, the Communist Party, Trade Unions, and Women's Federations were mobilized to take part in the census, and all mass media were utilized. All census information will be finally tabulated by computers before the end of 1984, and census reports will be compiled and submitted to the State Council for examination before they are published.     

Racial and Ethnic Differences in U. S. Census Omission Rates

This article assesses differences in rates of omission across seven race-ethnicity groups in the 1980 census to learn more about the social factors that condition census enumeration. Findings indicate that there are multiple sources of error, that these sources reflect distinctive ethnic attributes to a greater degree than shared minority status, and that census omissions have both inadvertent and motivational causes. The discussion notes some of the implications for improving coverage in future censuses.     

Population estimates for Bangladesh: The use of a specific transitional population model

Summary The development of population in Bangladesh was affected by a succession of man-made and natural calamities, such as the Bengal Famine of 1943, refugee movements following the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, devastating floods and cyclones around 1970, and the military action during the war of liberation. Though there had been a tradition of census taking and vital registration in Bangladesh, as part of the Indian sub-continent, extending for over a century, vital registration was so deficient as to be almost valueless, and there were gross misstatements of age and under-enumeration in the censuses. In the census of 1941, on the other hand, political manoeuvring led to a substantial overcount of the population. In this paper, Bangladesh population trends are studied within the broader framework of the subcontinent, taking account of plausible differentials. A considerable element of uncertainty was introduced into growth trends as a result of variations in the completeness of census-taking and of unrecorded refugee and labour movements across open land borders. In this connection the substantial inflationary bias associated with techniques of population estimation using the dual record system is discussed. The application of stable population models is even less justified in Bangladesh with its history of declining mortality. A transitional age structure model was constructed on the basis of the information available on declining mortality and accelerating growth and the model was made even more specific by modifications which took care of the impact of recent calamities and of unrecorded migration. The population base of the census of 1961 was adjusted in accordance with this model. The local mortality age pattern was used in projecting the population by sex and age groups to the date at which the census was originally due to be taken in 1971, and to the date when it was actually taken in March 1974. The post-1970 calamities and their effect on mortality were ignored. The aggregate estimate of population of 72.9 million in March 1974 is slightly in excess of the census count (by about two per cent) reported provisionally as 71.3 million. The excess in our estimate could be accounted for by the losses due to cyclone and military action.     

Looking back moving forward: The history of midwifery in Western Australia

ProblemTo date there is has been very little research into midwifery in Western Australia (WA), therefore this paper addresses a significant gap in the literature. The aim of this paper was to gain insight into the history of midwifery in WA.BackgroundSince the beginning of recorded history midwives have assisted women in childbirth. Midwifery is recognised as one of the oldest professions; midwives are mentioned in ancient Hindu texts, featured on Egyptian papyrus and in The Bible. Up until the seventeenth century childbirth was the responsibility of midwives, but the gradual emergence of barber-surgeons, then man-midwives and obstetricians heralded a shift from women-led and community-supported birth to a patriarchal and medical model. Throughout the twentieth century childbirth practices in the Western World have continued to change, leading to a move from midwifery-led care at home to doctor-led care in the hospital.DiscussionThe first non-Indigenous Australian midwives were not formally trained; they came on ships bringing convicts to Australia and are described as ‘accidental’ midwives, as assistance in childbirth came from whoever was available at the time. This period was followed by what was called the ‘Aunt Rubina’ period where older married women helped younger women in childbirth. Throughout the early 1800s untrained or ‘lay’ midwifery care continued alongside the more formally trained midwives who had arrived with the colonists.From the early 20th century, when birth moved into the hospital, midwives in WA have been incorporated into the hierarchy of the professions with obstetrics as the lead profession and midwifery considered a speciality of nursing. The role of the midwife has been subordinated, initially controlled by medicine and then incorporated into the institutions and nursing. The increase in legislative and training requirements for midwives throughout Australia and the move from home to the hospital, gradually led to the decrease in autonomous midwives working within the community, impacting women’s choice of birth attendant and place of birth.ConclusionThe historical suppression of midwifery in Australia has impacted the understanding of the role of the midwife in the contemporary setting. Understanding the development and evolution of the midwifery profession in Australia can help future directions of the profession.     

The new census question about ancestry: What did it tell us?

In addition to specific inquiries about race and Spanish origin, the censuses of 1980 and 1990 included an open-ended question about ancestry, which replaced the question about parents' place of birth that had been used since 1870. This paper examines findings from the new ancestry question from the perspective of measuring ethnicity. The question adds little information about Hispanics, racial minorities, or recent immigrants, who can be identified readily on the basis of other census inquiries. The ancestry question allows us to characterize the descendants of European immigrants, but because of ethnic intermarriage, the numerous generations that separate present respondents from their forebears, and the apparent unimportance of ancestry to many whites of European origin, responses appear quite inconsistent. In regard to these groups, we may now be in an era of optional ethnicity, in which no simple census question will distinguish those who identify strongly with a specific European group from those who report symbolic or imagined ethnicity.     

Can we study the family environment through census data? A comparison of households,dwellings, and domestic units in rural Mali

Are ‘statistical households’, as defined in national censuses, able to describe the family environment in Africa? Do they correspond to the family units that individuals identify with? To address this issue, we build on a follow-up survey in south-east Mali, which links national censuses with local censuses at the individual level (N?≈?28,000 census observations). Three cross-sectional snapshots of family arrangements are compared: households recorded in national censuses, and family economic units and residential units recorded by local censuses. The national census household data appear poorly suited to documenting family living arrangements. They do not account for family economic units or residential units, but are highly conditioned by a normative representation centred on the nuclear family. Therefore, they fail to describe the complexity and diversity of people’s living spaces, making particular types of living arrangements invisible and increasing the likelihood of omitting individuals who do not fit into a nuclear model.     

China's missing children: the 2000 census underreporting surprise

We compare the age and sex structure of China's 2000 population census to an estimate of that structure derived from a projection from the 1990 census. Based on China's own official estimates of demographic change, our intercensal analysis indicates a shortfall in enumeration of more than a quarter of all children under age 5 and an eighth of those between 5 and 9, a total of nearly 37 million children missing in the 2000 census. We show that the shortfall is primarily due to underreporting of children in the census. Sex differences in child underreporting were fairly minor. Child underreporting in China is not unprecedented, but child underreporting rates in 2000 were about triple those of previous censuses. We attribute the increase primarily to policy changes beginning in the early 1990s that held officials at all jurisdictional levels personally responsible for enforcing birth quotas.     

A new variant of dual-record population estimation with an application in remote indigenous communities

Dual-record system methods are commonly used as a basis for population estimation. A basic assumption is that the units sampled are drawn only from the population to be estimated. This assumption cannot be met for remote Indigenous communities in Australia. A new variant of dual-record population estimation is presented, which relies on the availability of specific additional information to relax the assumption of perfect frame specification. This variant is applied to two remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory of Australia, using locally available data sources. Further theoretical exploration of this method is presented along with possible applications in estimating area-enumerated populations and census coverage.     

The use of the 1982 China Census data]

Compared with the 1953 and 1964 census, the census in 1982 included more items, and computer technology was used extensively in the analysis of the census data. Census results were used to provide guidance for population control and socio-economic development programs. 3 large scale conference were held on the census, and papers presented at the first conference were published in both English and Chinese. Numerous books and papers were published based on the analysis of the census data. These include "China: Population and Geography," "Population and Employment in China in the Year 2000," and a series of 32 volumes entitled "China's Population." In addition, 3 major projects were undertaken: 1) the compilation of "the Population Atlas of China," 2) development of "Regional Model Life Tables in China", and 3) the development of computer software entitled "Demographic Analysis System." The results of the projects are satisfactory, and the outcome of the first 2 projects will be published both in China and overseas. Even though there has been great improvement in the utilization of data in the 1982 census from the 2 previous censuses, something are still, left to be desired. For the fourth census in 1990, it is important to consider the analysis and utilization of data in the planning stage. More detailed data should be published. Training workshops should be undertaken, enabling more people to use computers for data analysis. International collaborations should be further developed, as needed.