Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/242639 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
African Economic History Working Paper Series No. 10/2013
Publisher: 
African Economic History Network (AEHN), s.l.
Abstract: 
This paper aims to make an empirical and theoretical contribution towards the creation of a continent wide data set on African population extending into the pre-1950 era. We investigate the reliability and the validity of the current population databases with the aim of working towards a consensus on the long term series of African total population with a reliable 1950 benchmark. The cases of Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana are explored to show how uneven coverage census taking has been in colonial and post-colonial Africa and to demonstrate the need for an upward adjustment of the conventional 1950 benchmark. In addition, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Patrick Manning's approach of projecting population growth estimates backwards in time by adopting the available Indian census data as African 'default growth rates' and propose an alternative approach by incorporating the demographic experiences of tropical land abundant countries in South East Asia.
Subjects: 
Africa
history
population
JEL: 
N37
N57
ISBN: 
978-91-980438-9-1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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