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J_––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––j
96 THE SWEDISH CHURCH REGISTERS AND THE DEMOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE
can most nearly be described as self«enumeration (the filling in of formulas by the
heads of households, without questioning by enumerators). The Swedish census
can suitably be described as a »paper=census» (balance sheet) built upon the current
book-keeping over all the ingoing and outgoing items of the population, con=
trolled by an element of »momentary, real census». In Stockholm the parish register
is missing and the deficiency is made up for entirely by the assessment lists.
Ever since 1860 the material for the census is nominative, i. e., the clergy
have ever since that time sent copies every tenth year of the person lists of the
parish registers to the Central Bureau of Statistics, giving the complete names of
all those who were found in the parish on the last day of the year, with informa«
tion as to sex, civil status — since 1870 — year and place of birth, race, nation«
ality, religion, defects, occupations, position in family (wife, son, etc.) — as far
as possibly persons are arranged in families and households — in 1920 also the
years of marriage and widowhood; by means of which arrangement the widest
possibilities are opened, not only for different combinations in working up the
facts, but above all for watching over the correctness of the information given
by the census papers. Moreover, in connection with the census the Central
Bureau of Statistics sends out to the clergy a large number of inquiries con«
cerning deficiencies and supposed errors in their returns, though the clergy possess
in a much higher degree than the census officials of other lands, the qualifications
needed to bring about a perfectly satisfactory census material.
From 1860 there is also sent in from the registers of births, deaths, and marri«
ages, yearly copies containing information respecting not only the name, date of
birth, marriage, and death of the persons in question, but also the names of
the parents of the new«born, with their occupation, date of birth, and, from 1911,
also the date of marriage; respecting the date of birth of both parties to a marriage
contract, with their occupations, and the marriage number; respecting the cause of
death (both the clergyman’s and medical man’s notes, with information concerning
the medical man from whom advice was last sought on behalf of the deceased),
and also the dead person’s date of birth, and civil status, and (since 1911) the
date of birth of the survivor. For the whole time between 1861 and 1910, it has
only been obligatory for the towns to send in information respecting the cause
of death, but since 1911 it has been so for the whole country. Unfortunately
the tables respecting the cause of death are published without sufficient division,
from 20 years of age only in groups of ten years, without combination with either
civil status or occupation. The former combination cannot be made even with
the help of the manuscript tables, for example regarding such a common illness
as tuberculosis. Nominative returns are also sent yearly to the Central Bureau
respecting immigrants and emigrants, with the date of birth, civil status, and occu«
pation, and information on the country from which the migration took place and
the immigrants’ nationality or the country to which the migration shall take place.
The peculiarity of the Swedish demographical statistics afifords many advanta«
ges besides those already indicated. Very exact information concerning the num«
bers of the people can be obtained yearly without any additional cost to the
State or the parish, from every parish, according to sex, and with returns not only
of the number of births, marriages, and deaths, but also of the number of those
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