Population growth in Java in the 19th century

Abstract

In demographic literature Java occupies a special position. It is the island where in the nineteenth century a ‘population explosion’ occurred. In other developing countries this took place in the twentieth century.

Following the official figures Java had a population size of about 4.5 million in 1815 (Raffles's Census) and 28.5 million in 1900. The result is an extraordinary rate of growth of 2.2% per year.

In this paper it is argued that it is impossible to correct the data by adjusting them. A more promising method is to study the factors which are responsible for the demographic situation, i.e. economic conditions, the so-called pax neerlandica and the health situation in the period 1800–1850. This period has been specially studied, because it is crucial for the calculation of population size which is normally based on the 1815 period. It is suggested that Java cannot really claim to be an exceptional case in the period 1800–1850. This means that the growth rate — in line with the estimates of Carr Saunders and Sauvy -has to be estimated (greater accuracy is not possible) as between 0.5% and 1.0); per annum.

On the basis of estimates and calculations, the population size of Java may have been somewhere between 8 and 10 millions around 1800, the latter estimate being the more realistic figure.

The view that there was exceptionally rapid population growth in Java in the nineteenth century is to an important degree the product of a Europe-centred approach to the history of Java.

The present article is a résumé of a more detailed study of population growth in Java in the 19th century, and more especially during the period from 1800 to 1850. For a more thorough and detailed presentation of the views advanced in this article the reader is referred to that study. See Bram Peper, Grootte en groei van Java's inheemse bevolking in de negentiende eeuw, Publication No. 11, Department of South and South-East Asian Studies of the Centre for Anthropology and Sociology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1967. This publication was prepared under the inspiring guidance of Prof. W. F. Wertheim, Director of the Department of South and South-East Asian Studies of the Centre for Anthropology and Sociology, University of Amsterdam. My views differ from those of Prof. Wertheim on some points; cf. the discussion in an appendix to Peper, op, cit., pp. 136–151.

The present article is a résumé of a more detailed study of population growth in Java in the 19th century, and more especially during the period from 1800 to 1850. For a more thorough and detailed presentation of the views advanced in this article the reader is referred to that study. See Bram Peper, Grootte en groei van Java's inheemse bevolking in de negentiende eeuw, Publication No. 11, Department of South and South-East Asian Studies of the Centre for Anthropology and Sociology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1967. This publication was prepared under the inspiring guidance of Prof. W. F. Wertheim, Director of the Department of South and South-East Asian Studies of the Centre for Anthropology and Sociology, University of Amsterdam. My views differ from those of Prof. Wertheim on some points; cf. the discussion in an appendix to Peper, op, cit., pp. 136–151.

Notes

The present article is a résumé of a more detailed study of population growth in Java in the 19th century, and more especially during the period from 1800 to 1850. For a more thorough and detailed presentation of the views advanced in this article the reader is referred to that study. See Bram Peper, Grootte en groei van Java's inheemse bevolking in de negentiende eeuw, Publication No. 11, Department of South and South-East Asian Studies of the Centre for Anthropology and Sociology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1967. This publication was prepared under the inspiring guidance of Prof. W. F. Wertheim, Director of the Department of South and South-East Asian Studies of the Centre for Anthropology and Sociology, University of Amsterdam. My views differ from those of Prof. Wertheim on some points; cf. the discussion in an appendix to Peper, op, cit., pp. 136–151.