Year. Population. Population of the Philippines at different periods. Sources of information and remarks. 2,062,805 1818 2,026, 280 1827 2,593, 287 1833 1840 3, 153, 290 1845 1850 3,434, 007 1862 1870 4,734, 533 1876 1879 Reports by various religious organizations. Compilation made by the city government of Manila from the tax rolls for the tribute (25 provinces). Same source; quoted by Buzeta, II, p. 53. Do. Same source; quoted by Buzeta, II, p. 53. This total is 80,602 less than that Special reports to the Guia de Forasteros de Manila, made by the local officials. Special reports to the Guia de Forasteros. Sum of the figures given by Buzeta as the population of each province, probably on the basis of reports by the parish priests. The total quoted by Buzeta from the Guide for the same year is 3,815,874, which does not agree with his figures for the various provinces. Ecclesiastical census, published in the Guide, 1863. Reports by the civil authorities, compiled and published by Cavada, Historia, Geografica, Geologica y Estadistica de Filipinas, Manila, 1876. If we include 393,300, Cavada's estimate of the "infieles," the grand total is 5,091,777. An ecclesiastical census of the same year gives a total of 5,126,791, including the "infieles." 5,567, 685 Civil census quoted in the Guia Oficial for several years, see 1898. An ecclesiastical census of about the same time gives a total of 5,570,779, to which might be added 602,853, the estimated number of "infieles," making a grand total of 6,173,632. 5,817,268 Ecclesiastical census published in the Guia de Filipinas for 1881; estimated number of "infieles" was 632,645; grand total, 6,449,813. This was the census of which a manuscript copy was sent to Professor Blumentritt. Death rate in the same year was 106.3 per 1,000 against a birth rate of 43.4 per 1,000. Civil census. This was the only census ever taken independently of the tax rolls or the church records. Errors in computation in the published reports amounting to 504 have been corrected. Severe epidemic of cholera in 1882 contributed, among other causes, to restrain the growth. From a table, dated Manila, Nov. 30, 1891, bearing the signatures of Manuel del Busto and Jose Gutierrez de la Viga, president and vice-president, respectively, of the centro estadistica. This table shows internal evidence of having been very carefully prepared and is apparently more reliable than any other report of the same period. Epidemic of cholera in 1889. Estimated on the basis of the partial census of 1896, it being assumed that the rate of increase found in the 494 towns reported would hold good throughout the islands. The census of 1896 was in progress when the last insurrection against Spain broke out. The work was in charge of the bureau known as the "Centro de estadistica." It was probably on account of the insurrection that this census was never completed and never compiled. A large part of the original schedules which had been sent in from the provinces were found stored among the archives in the intendencia. From notations on the various packages it is evident that the returns were originally more complete than they appear at present. Probably many of the papers were lost in the interval of disorder. What remains has been found worthy of compilation, however, for although no very safe conclusion can be drawn from these returns for the islands as a whole, yet the information concerning the pueblos reporting seems to be complete and reliable. The following schedules were used for sending the returns to the centro de estadistica: 1. Population, giving the sex, and distinguishing the Spaniards, Spanish-mestizos, Filipinos, Chinese-mestizos, white foreigners, Chinese, and other races. 2. Marriages, giving name, race, and place of birth. 3. Births, according to nationality. 4. Deaths, according to nationality. 5. Buildings and industries, giving materials of which buildings are constructed, principal crops raised, and industries carried on, together with the distance from the capital. 6. Agricultural lands held by private parties, giving name of owner, number of acres, quality of soil, tenant or cultivator, position, boundaries, and crops raised on each farm. 7. Live stock, giving number of each of the several classes. 8. Prisons, giving race, place of birth, crime, sentence, and court of trial for all prisoners. 9. Public buildings and public instructions, giving material of which buildings are constructed, number of pupils by sex in public and private schools, number of persons unable to read or write, the number who could read, and the number who could both read and write. An examination of these schedules showed that they had been, for the most part, carefully prepared. About one-half of the population of the islands was reported and the returns came from 496 pueblos and 34 provinces. Of special importance as an aid in a subsequent census is the information here derived concerning the names and population of the various barrios. From this material tables have been constructed, giving the following information: 1. Population by sex and total for each pueblo reporting, and by provinces. 2. A comparison of the population of each pueblo reporting, with the population of the same pueblo in 1887. 3. A summary of the latter information by provinces. 4. Birth and death rates for each province and for the islands as a whole. Tables containing this information are attached hereto, marked "Appendix II." Further information may be derived from this material concerning the population of each barrio or other division of the pueblos; the number of houses in each barrio and the amount of live stock there owned; also information concerning the ownership of agricultural lands, namely, the number of landowners in each pueblo, the number of hectares under cultivation, the average size of the holdings, the number of hectares of each class of land, and the variety of crops raised. I is to be noted that these schedules give the names of the owners of agricultural lands in about five hundred pueblos in the year 1896, together with a description of each holding in such form that the property in question can be identified. This information can not be subjected to a statistical statement, but will be of great importance in applying the system of land taxation already provided by law and may be used as collateral evidence in the future in proving titles to land by showing who was reputed to own the land in 1896 and who cultivated it at that time. |