The Volkstelling 1930 — the census of 1930 of the Netherlands Indies — supplied, in its part IV on the Inheemsche bevolking van Sumatra, the demographic basis on which Dr. C. E. Gomperts calculated the population of the area covered by his eye survey of 1937 in Groot-Atjeh.
Use in the eye survey
Gomperts derived the estimated population of the surveyed area for 1937 by applying an annual increase of 1½ per cent to the 1930 figures supplied by the B.B., giving a total of 51,122: in the onderafdeeling Koetaradja 8,369 men, 8,882 women and 7,085 children (24,336 in all), against 7,575, 8,037 and 6,414 (22,026) in 1930; and in the onderafdeeling Seulimeum 8,580 men, 9,748 women and 8,458 children (26,786), against 7,766, 8,823 and 7,658 (24,247) in 1930.
Since the surveyed area was inhabited virtually exclusively by Atjehnese, the population strength was, as he noted, approximately equal to the strength of the Atjehnese population.
The census on fertility in Atjeh
Gomperts cited the census for a specific demographic finding about the district. According to the Volkstelling 1930 it was supposed that in the onderafdeelingen Lho-Nga and Seulimeum a slight natality had existed over the years, which would be connected with a slight fertility of the women “door niet zeker bekende factoren (o.a. avitaminose bij deze bevolkingsgroep?)” — through factors not certainly known, among others avitaminosis among this population group — and with great child mortality, presumably from the same factors, which had caused the group of the non-adult to shrink so that the group of adults became relatively large.
Reliability of the earlier count
The census of 1920 in Groot-Atjeh, Gomperts noted, “berustte op eene administratieve telling en was het minst betrouwbaar” — rested on an administrative count and was the least reliable. The increase from 1920 to 1930 in Atjeh for Inlanders would amount to 35.8 per cent, or rather more than 3 per cent a year; taking this into account, an increase of 1½ per cent a year for Groot-Atjeh was “wel heel goed mogelijk.”
Demographic context
Classified by the usual demographic standard, Gomperts wrote, the indigenous population of the Netherlands Indies would have to be ranked in the group of young, vigorously growing populations, as the still large increase indicated. The phenomenal growth of the previous century had with sufficient certainty declined, but the current increase was still very considerable and was assumed at about 1½ per cent a year. In the surveyed area the immigration factor played no role, since there were no plantations of any importance and migration of the Atjehnese population to other districts was very slight, so that increase was determined virtually exclusively by the birth surplus.
See Also
- Oogheelkundig kampongonderzoek in Groot-Atjeh (Maart-December 1937)
- Groot-Atjeh
- C. E. Gomperts
- Binnenlandsch Bestuur
- 1930
Source
Oriënteerend oogheelkundig onderzoek bij de Atjehsche bevolking van Groot-Atjeh gedurende 1937 (“Orienting Ophthalmological Survey among the Atjehnese Population of Groot-Atjeh during 1937”), by Dr. C. E. Gomperts, offprint from the Geneeskundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië, Afl. 19, Deel 80 (1940), pp. 1191-1238 (Batavia-Centrum: G. Kolff & Co.). Received by the editors 25 October 1939. Offprint DLP-157, Bibliotheek KITLV.