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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

M = Male         F = Female       T = Total          *  = Estimate
 

Dwellings

Year

Inhabited

Uninhabited

Under Construction

1881

268

26

--

1891

289

41

9

1901

331

42

8

1911

413

20

6

1921

434

26

7

1931

546

59

4

1946

755

--

--

1960

928

--

--

 

 

 

POPULATION OF NEIGHBOURING VILLAGES

 

The villages around the town of Kyrenia are Thermia, Karakoumi and Bellapais on the east and Ayios Georgios, Templos, Trimithi and Karmi on the west. During the first census in 1881, from what must had been an oversight, there are no statistical information for the villages of Thermia and Karakoumi even though both villages had a population larger than that of Ayios Georgios and the inhabitants were in frequent contact with the British district commissioner. 

 

Village

Year

1881

1891

1901

1911

1921

1931

1946

1960

1973

Ay.  Georgios

26

17

21

44

89

157

375

831

967

Thermia

--

63

71

94

94

93

134

144

147

Karakoumi

--

43

41

36

41

55

119

206

228

Karmi

404

474

518

673

747

672

741

653

528

Bellapais

319

398

500

613

643

672

792

725

685

Templos

136

137

131

135

125

118

167

227

268*

Trimithi

95

120

122

171

190

143

237

301

353

* = Estimate

 

 


 

[1] Source: Cyprus Censuses, 1881-1973.