HC Deb 16 July 1958 vol 591 cc101-2W
Mr. Tilney

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the total estimated population and the estimated number of children between the ages of six to 14 years, inclusive, as at the latest convenient date, in Barbados, Bermuda, the Gambia, Jamaica, Kenya, Eastern Nigeria, Northern Nigeria, Western Nigeria, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Sierra Leone, Tanganyika, Trinidad, and Uganda, respectively.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

The following table gives the information for the West Indian territories and Bermuda:

Year Total population Children (6–14 years)
Barbados 1956 228,210 44,600
Jamaica 1954 1,517,700 304,000
Trinidad 1956 742,500 169,000
Bermuda 1950 37,400 6,400

The estimated total populations of the African territories for which information has been requested are:

Year Total Population
(000)
Gambia 1956 275
Sierra Leone 1956 2,100
Nigeria—
Northern Region* 1957 18,465
Western Region 1957 6,613
Eastern Region 1957 7,782
Lagos (Federal capital) 1957 324
Southern Cameroons 1957 811
Kenya 1957 6,261
Tanganyika 1957 8,774
Uganda 1957 5,680
Northern Rhodesia 1957 2,240
Nyasaland 1957 2,648
* Including the northern portion of the Cameroons Trust Territory administered as part of the Northern Region.

The registration of births and deaths is still not complete in African territories, although methods of estimating age at the time of a census are being developed. The results of the latest attempt—in Tanganyika in 1957—are not yet available. In these circumstances it is not possible to give figures for the estimated number of children between the ages of 6 and 14 years in respect of the above-mentioned African territories. In the Nigerian census of 1952–53, however, the number of children aged 7 to 14 years was separately recorded, with the following results for the African population:

Total African Population Children (7–14 years)
(000) (000)
Northern Region (including Trust Territory) 16,835 2,456
Western Region 6,085 1,068
Eastern Region 7,215 1,256
Southern Cameroons 753 118
Lagos Township 267 43

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