Table 2. 1. iii


Rates of growth of the population of the West Indies, by territories,
 between the 1946 and 1960 censuses

 Annual compounded
 Territory rate of growth

 Percent
Barbados 1.325
Jamaica 1.566
Trinidad and Tobago 2.819
Windward Islands 1.592
Leeward Islands 1.309
British Guiana 2.849


 Using these individual growth rates we can calculate the population for each territory
between 1965 and 1975 and by aggregating the results derive an overall estimate for the
area as a whole. These individual estimates are shown in Table 2b. For purposes of
c comparison and ease of reference we have also included in Table 2b derived estimates
for each territory for the intercensal years on the basis of the growth rates shown in
Table 2. 1. iii.

 When we calculate the individual growth rates and aggregate the results we get esti-
mates which are in excess of those obtained from using the average growth rate. (Com-
p're Table 2. 1.ii with Table 2b.) In absolute terms this difference runs from 8,930 in
19f;5 to 44,570 in 1975. While this difference may appear significant when expressed in
absolu1t terms, it is less than 1 %. This margin of error is undoubtedly due to approxi-
mn:tions in calculation as well as the compounding of the individual growth rates and is not
statistically significant enough to disturb our projections.

 Another useful comparison emerges between the totals shown in Table 2a and those in
Table 21) over the intercensal years. In each year the end-of-year estimates given in
Table 2a exceed our derived estimates given in Table 2b. The difference in 1947 was a
little over 57,000 and by 1959! it had increased to 166,300, nearly three times its original
size. This difference can be taken as being indicative, but only roughly so, of the extent
of overestimation in the figures given in Table2a.

 Reverting to Table 2. 1.iii, the important point about this table is the different rates of
growth which the various territories show. These vary from 2.849% and 2.819% for
British Guiana and Trinidad and Tobago, respectively, to 1.325% and 1.309% for Barbados
and the Leeward Islands, respectively.

 This variation in the growth rates can be explained by the fact that Barbados and the
Leeward Islands, which are traditionally noted as emigration centres, have the lowest
rates of growth, whereas Trinidad and Tobago, which has consistently attracted migrants
from the Windward Islands, has the highest growth rate. This is not, however, the whole
story. Emigration from Barb:dos and the Leeward Islands has usually been to places