POPULATION FIGURES FOR THE TOWN OF KYRENIA, 1881-1973

Ersi Demetriadou

ersi@kyrenia.com

 

The first modern census of the population of Cyprus took place on April 4, 1881, four years after the island’s administration passed from Ottoman to British rule. Then followed, consecutively per decade, another five censuses, in 1891, 1901, 1911, 1921 and 1931. Because of the Second World War, the census scheduled for 1941, took place in 1946 and the last under British supervision took place on December 11, 1960. The intercommunal troubles in 1963 and 1967 interfered with the scheduled census of 1970, which eventually took place in 1973. In this, the Turkish Cypriot population refused to or was not allowed to participate. For this reason, the figures reported for the Turkish Cypriot population by the Statistics Department can be only considered as estimates. Nevertheless, despite the various omissions and errors, the Cyprus censuses allow us to study not only the population but also the economic growth of the town of Kyrenia and to do so on scientific bases. They remain a valuable source of information both for the researcher and those Kyrenians who would like to learn more about their history and origins.

TOWN OF KYRENIA POPULATION, 1881-1973[1]
Year	Total	Sex		Greeks			Turks			Maronites			Armenians			British			Other
		M	F	M	F	T	M	F	T	M	F	T	M	F	T	M	F	T	M	F	T
1881	1192	663	529	313	281	594	329	241	570			3	3		3	18	7	25
1891	1322	777	545	403	298	701	374	247	621			5
1901	1336	696	640	447	402	849	249	238	487						5			19
1911	1726	922	804	629	527	1156	293	277	570						8			22
1921	1910	959	951	696	646	1342	264	304	568
1931	2137	1087	1050	830	788	1618	257	262	519
1946	2916	1470	1446	1131	1073	2204	278	294	572	7	1	8	5	2	7	38	59	97	11	17	28
1960	3498	1760	1738	1173	1200	2373	345	351	696	8	1	9	16	14	30	129	104	233	89	68	157
1973	3892	--	--	1290	1345	2635	--	--	1000*	--	-	-	--	--	--	--	--	--	123	134	257