'File 6/70 Census of Bahrain population' [‎89r] (179/228)

COPY
E .36
(262/5/50)
BRITISH RESIDENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. ,
BAHRAIN.
1st May 1950.
Sir,
I have the honour to forward herewith a report by the
Bahrain Government on the census which they have recently held.
The last census was held in 1941 when the figure for the total
population was 89,970. The new figure is 109,650 showing an
increase of nearly 20 , 000 , but it is probable that a number of
people escaped the enumeration in 1941 as it was then feared
that the census was intended as a basis for either conscrip
tion or taxation. It is reckoned that about 6,000 persons,
nearly all of them males normally resident in Bahrain were
absent when the census was taken. The increase is almost
entirely confined to the towns of Manama and Muharraq and
must be accounted for in part by immigration. It will be
seen from the report that the Bahrain Government are of opinion
that there has been no drift from the villages to the tov/ns
and that the high rate of infant mortality is responsible for
the absence of any increase in the population of the villages.
This may be the case but I rather suspect that a certain num
ber of men from the villages have obtained employment in the
towns and are now residing there.
2. The total European population including Americans but
excluding ships 1 crews is now 1,683. Europeans were not sepa
rately enumerated in 1941, but there must have been a substan
tial increase. Persian subjects number 6,934 as against 7,547
in 1941 but it is probable that many have passed themselves
off as Bahrain subjects. There are many persons of Persian
origin who have in fact adopted Bahrain nationality and at a
rough estimate I should place the total number of persons of
Persian origin and still using the Persian tongue in Bahrain
at 10,000. The number of Indians including Pakistanis, Anglo-
Indians and Goanese has increased from 1 .424 to 3,043. This
is a very substantial increase and affords some Justification
for the restrictions which the Bahrain Government have asked
us to impose on the immigration of Indians.
3. You will see from the statistics that 96/t of the popula
tion are Muhammadans and that there are 2,932 Christians,
975 Hindus and 293 Jews. A large proportion of the Jews now
propose to emigrate to Israel and the Bahrain Government are
putting no obstacle in their way, but will not permit them
to return. Amongst the Muhammadans the Sunnis and Shiahs
were not separately enumerated. This was in order to avoid
causing ill feeling between the two sects and because the
Sunnis, to which sect the ruling family belongs, feared that
the figures would show a Shiah majority as they did in 1941.
when 46,354 Shiahs were enumerated as against 41,944 Sunnis.
4. There are about 7,500 more males than females and taking
absentees into account the excess of males over females must
be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 13,000. This dispropor
tion between the sexes can be accounted for in great part by
the large number of foreigners who have come to Bahrain for
employment without bringing their families. There are no
l