POPULATION STATISTICS: historical demography of all countries, their divisions and towns

Explanation of the abbreviations in letters used in the tables,
mostly in combination with the years of the figures

Remarks concerning the reliability of the data

The figures in nearly all population figures of the tables are shown in thousands, rounded to one decimal place.
In the general information pages figures are sometimes in real numbers. Decimals in percentages are stated with commas, not with dots.
Time zones in these general information pages are stated in hours Universal Time, if UT is followed with an asterisk, daylight saving time occurs. Data are based on source GL.
Typing errors may occur, but sometimes even the sources used contain errors. I would like to ask your understanding for this human nature.
When dates are stated I use the ISO combination of year.month.day [or: year-month-day] ; thus not in the American way month-day-year.

The data of some of the larger countries are so extensive that it might take some time to show the whole file on your screen.

In most cases I used contemporary sources. Therefore, the data could be less reliable when indigenous population (overestimate or undernumeration) was counted. This might occur especially in figures of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century of non-European countries.
In the tables of the population growth per country I also presented for many countries figures with a five-year interval for the years beyond 2000; these data are based on a calculation made by the UN in the early 1990s. Like most forecasts these predictions could very well prove to be unrealistic. In some countries the population is growing faster than foreseen, or it is becoming stable, or even: it is deminishing.
Projections of population for 2050 are from source WA, however, these figures may not correspond to the UN figures.
In some cases I used source KB for figures of population growth per country prior to 1950 or 1900. In my humble opinion, however, the data in this source has proved to be somewhat straightforward. Their method of calculating population growth is quite linear progressive, without regarding some anomalies which could have occured, such as changes in area, or huge migration. Also changes by means of starvation or casualties war have not been taken into consideration. These figures are also incorrect compared to contemporary census results, although census data prior to 1950 are at least very doubtful in the so called developing countries.

Remarks concerning the lay-out

I want to apologize for the poor lay-out of some signs in the tables. For the moment the Anglo-American influenced computerized character set makes it impossible to show most diacritic marks. It would have been better if the producers of HTML, Java, SGML, Windows, XML and so on had been more aware of the existence of other languages and the international impact of their products.

Also I would like to apologize for the poor lay-out of some columns or rows in the tables.
The conversion of the files into HTML is giving me stylistic and technical problems. Especially in tables containing data of administrative divisions and urban centers some information is too large to show in one "normal" column, so certain rows of these columns are extended in height instead of in width.

Remarks concerning specific columns

In tables of the administrative divisions the column headed by "particulars" may contain information on the merging and splitting of these government bodies.
The column headed by "variants of the name" may contain information on the name in other languages, or in a historical perspective.

In tables of urban centres the column headed by "particulars" may contain information on the inclusion or exclusion of (former) suburbs. In a few cases other information is given, like archeological points of interest, international airports nearby, destruction by volcanic activity, earthquakes.
The column headed by "variants of the name" may contain information on the name in other languages, or in a historical perspective.

For the data of elevation - in metres - the compiler used several atlantes, directories and maps.
If a place is situated at, or near, sea level - e.g. a harbour or seaside resort - , the figure is in most cases "zero", although the centre - town hall, main church, mosque, or square - of this place is probably situated several metres above sea level.

Remarks concerning the images used

When flags and maps are put in as illustrations, I made use of the Clipart images in Corel Suite 8. In case flags and maps were not found there, I scanned copies from several books or atlantes, or I visited websites concerning flags.

Remarks concerning the availability of the data in other formats than html-tags.

The input of the raw data in files is done in the Corel Quattro Pro program, suite 8. Some of these files are also copied to Microsoft Excel, but that action could cause some loss of certain specific remarks per cell compared to the original input file.
In spite of regular updating of files by the compiler, they are on demand obtainable in the formats Excel or Quattro Pro. They will be send as attachments to e-mail, huge files in winzipped form.
The delivery of raw data of one country is gratis, but in case data of more countries are desired, they are, alas, not free of charge.
If you wish to receive the entire database of files it will cost you 240 Euro, or 240 US dollar.
If you wish to receive parts of the database: see the table with prices below. The amount is both in Euro or US dollar exactly the same. The method of payment will be mutually agreed.

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