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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

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Territorial population distribution of the British Empire (1925)[2]

  British India (70.9986%)
  British Africa (10.6836%)
  United Kingdom (10.5308%)
  Other Asian colonies (2.9769%)
  British North America (2.0139%)
  Australasia and Pacific (1.6925%)
  Other colonies (1.1037%)

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

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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 40,033,162 169,677 294,191,379
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

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The British authorities were primarily Protestant Christians throughout the history of the Empire.[13][14][15][16][17]

Religion in the British Empire (1901)
Territory Percent
Hinduism
 
 52.4%
Islam
 
 23.7%
Christianity
 
 14.6%
Buddhism
 
 3%
Paganism and others
 
 6.3%
Population distribution of religions in the British Empire (1901)[18]

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

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References

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  1. ^ 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".
  2. ^ a b "Area and Population of the British Empire". Historical Atlas of the British Empire. 1925.[dead link‍]
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Census of the British empire: 1901. Great Britain Census Office. 1906. p. xviii.
  5. ^ Census of the British empire: 1901. Great Britain Census Office. 1906. pp. xvi & xviii.
  6. ^ Lugard, Flora Louise (1911). "British Empire: Population" . 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".
  7. ^ Maddison 2001, pp. 97 & 241
  8. ^ Smith, George (1882). The Geography of British India, Political & Physical. Oxford University. J. Murray. pp. 3.
  9. ^ Census of the British empire: 1901. Great Britain Census Office. 1906. p. xvi.
  10. ^ Lugard 1911, p. 607.
  11. ^ Lugard 1911, p. 606.
  12. ^ Lugard 1911, pp. 606–607.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ "War, Religion and the British Empire, 1757-1872". 23 April 2010.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ Pestana, Carla Gardina (June 2011). Protestant Empire: Religion and the Making of the British Atlantic World. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812203493.
  17. ^ Strong, Rowan (26 July 2007). Anglicanism and the British Empire, C.1700-1850. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-921804-2.
  18. ^ a b Lugard 1911, pp. 614.

Further reading

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