1914 Ottoman census

The 1914 Ottoman census was published as the Memalik-i Osmaniyyenin 1330 Senesi Nütus Istatistiki.^[a][1] The statistics were prepared by using the figures from the 1905–06 census of the Ottoman Empire.^{[clarification needed][sentence fragment]}.^[1]

1914, Muslim, Greek and Armenian population.

The 1914 census lists reflected major changes in the territorial boundaries and administrative division of the Ottoman state.^[2] The 1914 Ottoman general election provided a significant source of population data. The empire's total population in the census was recorded as 18,520,015.^[2] The grand total for 1914 showed a "net gain" of 1,131,454 people from the 1905-06 Ottoman census survey. The data reflects the loss of territory and population in Europe due to Balkan Wars, as the total net gain within the Ottoman State population was 3,496,068.^[2]

The census underestimated non-Muslim populations.^[3][4] For example, in Diyarbekir, the Armenian population was reported at 73,226 in the 1914 Ottoman census, but in September 1915 Reshid Bey announced that he had deported 120,000 Armenians from the province.^[5][6]

Census data

Vilayet	Muslims	Greek Orthodox	Armenian Orthodox	Jews	Greek Catholics	Armenian Catholics	Protestants	Latins	Syriacs	Chaldeans	Jacobites	Maronites	Samarians	Nestorians	Yazidis	Gypsies	Druze	Cossacks	Serbs	Wallachians	Total
Balkans
Çatalca1	20,048	36,797	842	1,480	-	-	-	?														59,756
Edirne	360,417	224,459	19,725	22,515	21	48	115	?														631,094
Constantinople	560,434	205,375	72,962	52,126	387	9,918	1,213	2,905	?													909,978
Anatolia
Adana	341,903	8,537	50,139	66	437	2,511	5,036	?														411,023
Ankara	877,285	20,226	44,507	1,026	14	7,069	2,381	?														953,817
Antalya1	235,762	12,385	630	250	-	-	-	?														249,686
Aydın	1,249,067	299,096	19,395	35,041	1	892	479	?														1,608,742
Bitlis	309,999	-	114,704	-	-	2,788	1,640	?														437,479
Bolu1	399,281	5,146	2,961	20	5	9	2	?														408,648
Canik1	265,950	98,739	27,058	27	-	261	1,257	?														393,302
Diyarbekir	492,101	1,822	55,890	2,085	113	9,960	7,376	?														619,825
Erzurum	673,297	4,859	125,657	10	5	8,720	2,241	?														815,432
Eskişehir1	140,578	2,613	8,276	728	-	316	215	?														152,726
İçil1	102,034	2,500	341	10	7	-	-	?														105,194
İzmit1	226,859	40,048	55,403	428	-	449	1,937	?														325,153
Kale-i Sultaniye1	149,903	8,541	2,474	3,642	9	-	67	?														165,815
Karahisar-i Sahip1	277,659	632	7,437	7	-	2	9	?														285,820
Karesi1	359,804	97,497	8,544	362	-	109	51	?														472,970
Kastamonu	737,302	20,958	8,959	8	-	-	-	?														767,227
Kayseri1	184,292	26,590	48,659	-	-	1,515	2,018	?														263,074
Konya	750,712	25,071	12,971	4	79	-	254	?														789,308
Kütahya1	303,348	8,755	3,910	-	-	638	-	?														316,894
Mamuret-ül-Aziz	446,379	971	76,070	-	-	3,751	8,043	?														538,227
Maraş1	152,645	11	27,842	251	23	4,480	6,111	?														192,555
Menteşe1	188,916	19,923	12	1,615	-	-	-	?														210,874
Niğde1	227,100	58,312	4,890	-	-	45	769	?														291,117
Sivas	939,735	75,324	143,406	344	-	3,693	4,575	?														1,169,443
Trabzon	921,128	161,574	37,549	8	-	1,350	1,338	?														1,122,947
Urfa1	149,384	2	15,161	-	865	1,557	1,652	?														170,988
Van Vilayet	179,380	1	67,792	1,383	-	-	-	?														259,141
Levant
Beyrut	648,314	87,244	1,188	15,052	24,210	277	3,823	?														824,873
Halep	576,320	13,772	35,104	12,193	8,182	5,739	8,643	?														667,790
Kudüs-i Şerif	266,044	26,035	1,310	21,259	1,086	-	1,733	?														328,168
Suriye	791,582	60,978	413	10,140	27,662	247	1,873	?														918,409
Zor1	65,770	18	67	2	27	215	1	?														66,294
Total	15,044,846	1,729,738	1,161,169	187,073	62,468	67,838	65,844	24,845	54,750	4,133	13,211	6,932	47,406	164	8,091	6,957	11,169	7,385	1,006	14,908	82	18,520,016

As a result of the substantial territorial losses in Europe suffered during the Balkan Wars, the total population of the empire fell to 18,520,016, of whom an even larger percentage than before, 15,044,846, was counted as Muslim, with 1,729,738 as Greek Orthodox, 1,161,169 as Armenian Gregorian, 187,073 as Jewish, 68,838 as Armenian Catholic, 65,844 as Protestant, and 62,468 as Greek Catholic. No separate figures were given for Franks.^[7]

The capital, Constantinople (Istanbul) was an important location due to expulsions from Balkan Wars. According to the 1914 census, its population increased slightly, to 909,978, excluding Franks, with 560,434 Muslims, 205,375 Greek Orthodox, 72,963 Armenian Gregorian, 52,126 Jews, 9,918 Armenian Catholics, 2,905 Roman Catholics, 1,213 Protestants, and 387 Greek Catholics.^[7]

¹ Sanjak

Notes

1. Population statistics of the Ottoman state in the year 1914 in Istanbul, 1919

References

1. Karpat 1985, p. 189
2. Karpat 1985, p. 190
3. Gaunt, David (2006). Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia During World War I. Gorgias Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-59333-301-0. Both the Armenian and the Assyro-Chaldean leaders ignored the official Ottoman census of 1914, which gave figures for non-Muslims that were thoroughly misleading and inaccurate. As a token of the confused nature of the official census-taking and the lack of coordination between the local correspondents, the Syriac Orthodox population is shown in three separate categories: Süryaniler, Eski Süryaniler, and Jakobiler. Under-registration of minorities was a fact of life in Ottoman statistics.
4. Kévorkian, Raymond (2011). The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-85771-930-0. From the day the Armenian question was posed, the Armenians' demographic weight in the population became a political problem and was treated as such. Thus, it is not surprising that the Ottoman authorities systematically falsified their own censuses.
5. Kévorkian, Raymond (2011). The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 271. ISBN 978-0-85771-930-0.
6. Gaunt 2006, pp. 69, 301.
7. Shaw 1978, p. 335

Bibliography

• Karpat, K.H. (1985). Ottoman population, 1830–1914: demographic and social characteristics. Madison: University of Wisconsin Pres. pp. 189–190, 242. ISBN 9780299091606.
• Shaw, Stanford J. (1978). "The Ottoman Census System and Population, 1831–1914". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 9 (3): 325–338. doi:10.1017/s0020743800033602.