Demographics of the British Empire

By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the world population at the time. ^[1]

Population

Territorial population distribution of the British Empire (1925) ^[2]

   British India (70.9986%)

   British Africa (10.6836%)

   United Kingdom (10.5308%)

   Other Asian colonies (2.9769%)

   British North America (2.0139%)

   Australasia and Pacific (1.6925%)

   Other colonies (1.1037%)

The following table gives the population of the British Empire and its territories, in several different time periods. The most populous territory in the empire was British India, which included what are now Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Territories	1814 [3]	1881 [4]	1901 [5] [6]	1913 [7]	1925 [2]
United Kingdom	16,456,303	34,884,848	41,458,721	45,649,000	47,307,000
British India	40,058,408	253,896,330	294,361,056	303,700,000	318,942,000
British Africa	128,977	1,526,110	43,000,000	52,000,000	47,993,000
Other Asian colonies	2,009,005	3,347,770	5,638,944	26,300,000	13,373,000
British North America	486,146	4,522,145	5,600,000	18,000,000	9,047,000
Australasia and Pacific	434,882	2,837,081	5,486,000		7,603,000
European dependencies	180,300	359,403	650,000		656,000
British West Indies	732,171	1,216,409	2,012,655	1,600,000	2,012,000
Total British Empire	61,157,433	305,512,568 [8]	400,000,000 [9]	447,249,000	449,223,000

Ethnicity

The empire's population was classified into white people, also referred to as Europeans, and non-white people, variously referred to as persons of color, negros and natives. ^{[3] [10]} The largest ethnic grouping in the empire was Indians (including what are now Pakistanis and Bangladeshis), who were classified into 118 groups on the basis of language which were amalgamated into seven "principle groups". ^[11] The following table gives the population figures for white people and non-white people, in the empire and its territories, in 1814 and 1901.

Territories	1814 [3]		1901 [12]
	White people	Non-white people	White people	Non-white people
United Kingdom and home dependencies	16,636,606	?	41,608,791	?
British India	25,246	40,033,162	169,677	294,191,379
British Africa	20,678	108,299	1,000,000	33,499,329
Other Asian colonies	61,059	1,947,946	?	5,144,954
British North America	486,146	?	5,500,000	100,000
Australasia and Pacific	35,829	399,053	4,662,000	824,000
British West Indies	64,994	667,177	100,000	1,912,655
Total British Empire	18,001,796	43,155,637	53,040,468	335,672,317

Religion

The British authorities were primarily Protestant Christians throughout the history of the Empire. ^{[13] [14] [15] [16] [17]}

Religion in the British Empire (1901)
Territory			Percent
Hinduism			52.4%
Islam			23.7%
Christianity			14.6%
Buddhism			3%
Paganism and others			6.3%
Population distribution of religions in the British Empire (1901) [18]

The following table gives the population figures for the religions in the British Empire in 1901. The most populous religion in the empire was Hinduism, followed by Islam. ^[18]

Religion	Population	% of total population
Hinduism	208,000,000	52.4
Islam	94,000,000	23.7
Christianity	58,000,000	14.6
Buddhism	12,000,000	3
Paganism and others	25,000,000	6.3
Total British Empire	397,000,000	100

See also

• Economy of the British Empire
• Territorial evolution of the British Empire

References

1. Maddison 2001, pp. 97 "The total population of the Empire was 412 million [in 1913]", 241 "[World population in 1913 (in thousands):] 1 791 020".
2. "Area and Population of the British Empire". Historical Atlas of the British Empire. 1925. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022.
3. Patrick Colquhoun (1814). A Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World, Including the East-Indies: The Rise and Progress of the Funding System Explained. National Library of the Netherlands. p. 7.
4. Census of the British empire: 1901. Great Britain Census Office. 1906. p. xviii.
5. Census of the British empire: 1901. Great Britain Census Office. 1906. pp. xvi & xviii.
6. Lugard, Flora Louise (1911). "British Empire: Population"  . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 606. notes that "the census returns for 1901 from the various parts of the empire were condensed for the first time in 1906 into a blue-book under the title of Census of the British Empire, Report with Summary".
7. Maddison 2001, pp. 97 & 241
8. Smith, George (1882). The Geography of British India, Political & Physical. Oxford University. J. Murray. pp.  3.
9. Census of the British empire: 1901. Great Britain Census Office. 1906. p. xvi.
10. Lugard 1911, p. 607.
11. Lugard 1911, p. 606.
12. Lugard 1911, pp. 606–607.
13. Porter, Andrew (1992). "Religion and empire: British expansion in the long nineteenth century, 1780–1914". The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 20 (3): 370–390. doi:10.1080/03086539208582877.
14. "War, Religion and the British Empire, 1757-1872". 23 April 2010.
15. Ballantyne, Tony (2005). "Religion, Difference, and the Limits of British Imperial History". Victorian Studies. 47 (3): 427–455. doi:10.2979/VIC.2005.47.3.427. JSTOR   3830222. S2CID   144368015.
16. Pestana, Carla Gardina (June 2011). Protestant Empire: Religion and the Making of the British Atlantic World. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN   978-0812203493.
17. Strong, Rowan (26 July 2007). Anglicanism and the British Empire, C.1700-1850. OUP Oxford. ISBN   978-0-19-921804-2.
18. Lugard 1911, pp. 614.

Further reading

• Maddison, Angus (2001). The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective (PDF). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. ISBN   92-64-18608-5 . Retrieved 22 July 2009.