The first (old) statistical account of Scotland as a demographic data source about the population of Scotland of the end of the 18th century | Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta – Tomsk State University Journal. 2018. № 432. DOI: 10.17223/15617793/432/21

The first (old) statistical account of Scotland as a demographic data source about the population of Scotland of the end of the 18th century

The article examines the population of Scotland at the end of the 18th century, which was a period of significant social transformation. Its main task is to investigate what demographic information can be obtained using data from the first (old) statistical account of Scotland and to provide some figures. The desire to conduct a survey like a statistical account throughout the country worried the minds of the Scots for a long time. Some attempts were made to do this. However, only increased attention to improvements in agriculture, the experience of A. Webster and other previous researchers and the philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment were able to help J. Sinclair to conduct and publish the materials of the statistical account. The use of a uniform questionnaire for all parishes was among the unconditional successes of Sinclair. However, the priests could not provide the data in a suitable form for comparison on all issues. There are three reasons for this. First, to make a comprehensive answer the priests themselves did not always know what was going on in the parish, or they might not want to answer. Secondly, the answers were returning during a long period of time, but the situation in parishes changed quickly. Thirdly, there were many problems concerning the keeping of parish registers. Nevertheless, Sinclair was able to get a lot of important information. It was found that the population since 1755 increased by approximately 261 thousand people. This was a very good result for a small country taking into account the high emigration. For every 100 females, there were only 90 males, but at the youngest and oldest age the share of males was higher, because of the high emigration of males. About 41% of the population was younger than 20, and 39% were in the range of 20 to 50. More than 50 years had 17% of the population. According to the Rosset-Beaujeu-Garnier scale, it can be assumed that the population of Scotland was at the demographic youth or early stages of aging stage. The average family size was 4.6 persons, but they included single-person households. Taking into consideration the fact that in a marriage an average of 4-5 children were born, it can be assumed that the size of the family consisting of two or more people exceeded 5 persons. Data on migration in the statistical account are practically absent. Data on fertility, nuptiality and mortality are presented at a low level, because of the fact that in many parishes the registers were poorly kept. Basically they contain information about baptisms, announcements and burials, rather than births, marriages and deaths. Only sometimes the time of demographic events may be specified.

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Keywords

население Шотландии, первое (старое) статистическое обозрение Шотландии, Джон Синклер, история статистики, историческая демография, population of Scotland, first (old) statistical account of Scotland, John Sinclair, history of statistics, historical demography

Authors

Name	Organization	E-mail
Sinitsa Arseniy L.	Lomonosov Moscow State University	sinitsa@econ.msu.ru

Всего: 1

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