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1931
Census
Bearing in mind that births did not exceed deaths in the
Colony until the mid-1930s it is not surprising to learn
that the population in 1931 was not far different from
that 40 years earlier. The population of Aden in 1931
was 46,638, only about 2,000 more than in 1891. Two
Tables are of particular interest: the distribution by
location and by ethnic background.
|
Population by Location |
|
Crater |
21,383 |
|
Maala |
3,605 |
|
Tawahi, Steamer Point and Hedjuff |
7,287 |
|
Sheikh Othman, Imad, Hiswa and Little Aden |
12,167 |
|
Military Area including Khormaksar |
1,981 |
|
Total |
46,638 |
A like-for-like comparison with 1891 is difficult, but
the biggest drop in numbers was in the Tawahi, Steamer
Point and Hedjuff group. Certainly, with the change from
coal to oil bunkering, there would have been fewer
coolie gangs at Hedjuff. Although the numbers in Maala
had trebled, it was still only a large village compared
to what it would become in the early 1960s. The numbers
in the Military Area had more than halved in spite of
the RAF now being at Khormaksar. The drop was mainly due
to the withdrawal of the British infantry battalion (and
its families and followers) in 1928. The most
significant increase was in the Sheikh Othman group,
although one suspects most of the increase was in Sheikh
Othman itself.
Looking at ethnic background, in 1931 the category of
‘Christian’ has been replaced by ‘European’; with the
British infantry gone, the numbers in this category are
not much over a third of 40 years previously. What is
interesting is that for the first time we have a total
for Arabs and Somalis. The latter figure is quite a bit
smaller than one might have expected, but then many of
the coolie gangs had been Somali. There are now more
Jews than Somalis and the former account for not far
short of 10% of the population.
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