A brief history of Jamaica’s population and the census

A caller to a radio programme recently wanted to know the size of Jamaica’s population at the end of slavery. He did not get a satisfactory response nor was he referred to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), which is the main source of this information. STATIN is now in the process of conducting the decennial census, which began on September 12. This census was originally due in 2021.

When Christopher Columbus arrived in Jamaica in 1494, it is estimated that the indigenous people (the Tainos) numbered about 60,000. From 1494 to 1655, the Spanish population did not increase significantly in spite of incentives to encourage settlement and even with enslaved people from Africa introduced in 1513. The Taino population declined rapidly due to diseases, marauding animals, overwork, and depression. So when the English attacked Jamaica in May 1655, it is estimated that the island’s population was only about 1,500.

The British, with 8,000 men, took possession of Jamaica with the rout of the Spanish. The population grew, especially with greater supplies of enslaved Africans from about 1680 as the production of sugar and other agricultural crops increased. The people of African origin would far outnumber the people of European origin. There were also a few free black people, as well as the Maroons, and a larger group of coloured people, the progeny of black-white unions. There were immigrants of Jewish origin seeking refuge from persecution in Europe, including from Spain and Portugal, and people fleeing the 1804 revolution and other upheavals in Haiti. Many of these Haitian migrants went into coffee production.

CENSUS

Taking a census to determine population size dates back millennia as we know from the Bible. In many places, though, population figures were largely estimated. The Census Act was passed in Britain in 1800, and the first official census was conducted in 1801. Formalising the census was influenced, it seems, by the writings of Thomas Malthus, cleric, scholar, and economist, who focused on population’s impact on the economy.

With emancipation in the British West Indies (BWI), the British Government directed that the census should also be conducted in these colonies to address specific developmental needs. The first census in Jamaica and other BWI territories was held in 1844. Thereafter, as far as possible, a census has been conducted in Jamaica every 10 years. These censuses have provided important information required in development planning.

After Emancipation, the white population, already small, under 20,000, declined as sugar further lost its economic value, and heavily indebted (encumbered) estates were sold or abandoned.

The ethnic mix of the Jamaican population also changed after 1846 as indentured workers were brought from China and India, and other migrants came from the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon).

Jamaica’s population has grown considerably since 1844 as shown in these selected years:

1844 – 377,433; 1861 – 441,264; 1871 – 506,654; 1891 – 646,300; 1901- 750, 000; 1911- 831,388; 1921- 858,118; 1941-1,237,000; 1951-1,403,000; 1961 – 1,651,067; 1971 -1,869,000; 1981 – 2,132,000; 1991 – 2,365,000; 2001 -2,582,000; 2011 – 2,741,000; 2021 – 2,970,000

Emigration has been important in population control as since the 1860s, Jamaicans have sought work overseas, and many have remained in these countries, establishing the Jamaican diaspora. The birth rate may also have stabilised since the 1960s.

The population today is about eight times larger than it was in 1844. The current census will determine whether Jamaica’s population has passed to the three million mark or whether, with declining birth rates, it has stabilised.

Contributed by Marcia Thomas