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BENGAL.

298

where the number of women in 10,000 is In Calcutta, the males are exactly twice as numerous as the females, the figures in 100 of both sexes being 66 and 33 respectively. In agricultural Districts, or in localities in which the density of the population or other local circumstances to

men

is

greatest in Behar,

5076 to 4923 men.

favour the emigration of the males, the female element predominates. its men abroad women number 53 ’04 in

Thus, in Chittagong, which sends m.any of

as sailors,

or as labourers into Burma, the

ever)'

persons to 46 '95 men.

100

In Dacca, which also contributes to the sea-

number 51 ‘14 percent. The agricultural and thickly populated Districts of Patna Division, with the exception of Champaran, all show an excess of females. So also do the Orissa Districts of Cuttack and Balasor, and all the Districts of the Chutia Nagpur Division, which are subject to a constant drain of men who leave their homes to work as coolies, palki-bearers, earth-work labourers and domestic servants, in other parts of Bengal In the first Census of Bengal, in 1 8 7 2, the population was roughly divided into children and adults, the line of demarcation being drawn at 12 years of age. But at the Census of 1881 ages were more fully recorded. faring population, the females

Divided into decennial periods, the proportions of the population in Under 10 years of age, 29'69 per each stage w'ere returned as follows cent. ; from 10 to 19, 1779 per cent. ; from 20 to 29, i6'84 per cent. from 30 to 39, i 4'48 per cent ; from 40 to 49, 9‘66 per cent. ; from 50 to 59 percent.; 60 years and upwards, 5’58 per cent. That is to say, out of every 100 persons of both sexes, nearly one-third are under 10 years of age, and nearly one-half, or 47^48 per cent., are less than 20 years of age. When the figures for each sex are examined

—

»

and third periods Between the ages 10-19, the proportion of males is and of females 1779 per cent. while between 20-29,

separately, the apparent proportions in the second differ considerably. i

8'95 per cent.,



the proportion of males

per cent.

The

is

15 '93 per cent., that of females

is

16 '85

excess of youths as returned between 10 and 20, and of

females between 20 and 30, is partly due to the fact that girls arrive at maturity sooner than boys, so that their age is frequently overstated

and

partly to the reserve

ing of the

women

which natives of Bengal experience

in speak-

of their household, and which leads them either to

understate their age and describe them as children, or to overstate

and return them is

as middle-aged

women.

The

among the aboriginal tribes. Tmun and Rural Population The absence

relatively largest

.

of the most remarkable

—

statistical features

it

proportion of children of large towns

of Bengal

The

is

one

population

beyond Calcutta and its suburbs is almost entirely rural. With the e.xception of London, however, no city in the British Empire has so great a population as Calcutta, including

its

suburbs, the south