126 THE BRITISH EMPIRE : — INDIA AND DEPENDENCIES
IV. Movement of the Population.
The ratio of births and deaths in British India per thousand of the popu- lation under registration is officially recorded as follows : —
Birth rates '
Death rates 1
1918 1919
1918
1919
Delhi ......
47-92 45 8
93-47
42-0
32-9 27-5
3S-1
36-2
United Prove, of Agra &Oudh.
39-89 32-39
82-37
41-69
39-6 40-3
SO -96
28-3
Central Provinces and Berar .
43-24
34 31
102-6
43 24
83-01
29 89
39-59
81 09
3498
80-52
461
50-09
Bihar and Orissa
37-5
30-4
56-7
40
28-9
25-5
43-0
27-2
31-61
27-9
88-05
32-53
N.W. Front. Prov. .
30-6
28-6
70-3
28-6
29-67
26-35
42-65
35 36
Ajmer-Merwara
20-35 35-35
3004
114-78
28 67
Total
30-24
62-46
35-87
1 The rates for the two years are calculated on the 1911 census population.
The registered deaths in 1919 numbered 8,554,178, of which cholera accounted for 578,426; plague, 74,284: fevers, 5,468,181; dysentery and diarrhcea, 291,643. The total deaths from plague in all India (British and native) from 1896 to the end of 1918 exceeded 10 millions, averaging nearly half a million per year.
The number of coolie emigrants from India was in 1915-16, 4,290; in 1916-17, 6,339; in 1917-18, 869. The bulk went to Demerara, Trinidad, Jamaica, Fiji, and Surinam. The emigration of unskilled labour has been prohibited, and it has been decided not to revive indentured emigration. The question of the introduction of a system of assisted emigration is under consideration.
V. Principal Towns. The urban population of India in 1911 was as follows : —
Towns with
No.
Population
Over 100,000
50,000—100,000 .... 20,000— 50,000 .... 10,000— 20,000 .... 5,000— 10,000 .... Under 5,000 ....
80
45
181
442
848 607
7,075,782 3,010,281 5,545,820 6,163,954 5,944,503 2,007,888
Total
2,158
29,748,228
