, 1904-12-15
THURSDAY. DECEMBER is. 1904.
AGE STATISTICS.

aHOfuS convincing evidence OF the ten
dency to understate ages. This ten
dency manifests itself in the unduly !
large proportion Of the population re-
porting their ages as 25. 80. IS, 40, etc.
A shilful analysis Of the returns
shows that except among persons of
advanced years. this concentration on
multiples of five represents in the ma.
jority of ase an understatement OF
age. The tendency to report ages as
less than the truth is strongest in the
negro population, stronger in the for.
eign born white han in the native
white population, and is stronger with
females than with males.
There is evidence OF an overstate.
ment of the ages Of young children,
which is explained as due to the ten
dency to denote a child's age by the
year of life. rather than by the number
of complete years. This leads to a
larger apparent deficiency of children
in the first few years Of life. The ap
parent deficiency is more marked in
the case of children in the second year
OF life than of those in the first year
a result due to the fact that the ages
Of children less than a year old are re-
ported by months.
The age returns of the more Hitter
ate classes of the population are less
accurate than those Of the o in
telligent classes. Moreover, the dis
tribution OF errors in the age returns
Is such as to suggest that b census
information obtained about the more
intelligent classes in districts In which
there are large numbers Of i~lliteretcs
is less accurate as a rule than infor-
nation obtained about the same class
of persons in districts where the GEL.
eral average of education is higher.
The evident explanation Ii that the
census enumerators held more con-
sistently to high standards of C
cy in those regions where = high av-
erage of accuracy was possible.
The number Of contenarians in the
population Is grossly exaggerated In
the returns. this exaggeration being
especially marked in the case of the
more illiterate classes.
About three-ffths Of the total popu-
lation Of the United States are BE-
tween Is and 60 years old-compris-
ing what is sometimes called the PRO
ductive' age group. This ia q larger
proportion OF the population than Ia
found in the same g group In
European countries-a fact which ts
due to the large number Of foreign
born adults in our population. But
the only European countries which
have SO small a proportion Of their
population Of the United States are
Holland and the Scandinavian coun-
tries.
Nearly one-fourth Of the population
are less than 10 years old and ovei
t~hreesevenths are less than 20. Less
than ~one-seventh have accomplished
half the possible hundred years Of hu-
man life, n only % out Of every
thousand have passed the allotted
three score a n ten"
The greater average maturity Of the
urban population, shown by a higher
median age, is due to the relatively
larger proportion in the period Of a
ly middle lire. The rural population
is relatively more numerous at both
extremes of the age table.
Children reported as less than a
year old constitute rs per cent OF the
aggregate population, while children
under 5 constitute 12.1 per cent. Both
of these proportions are considerably
smaller than they were in 1880. and
are smaller than the corresponding
ratios for most European countries.
The proportion of children under l
in the total population varies from
one in 80 in Utah to one in so In Cal
ifornia. The number Of children in
the population is relatively least in
New England and on the Pacific coast;
it is relatively highest in the south and
in some of the eve agricultural
tates of the west and northwest.
OF the aggregate population 81 per
cent are males and 40 per cent are fe-
males, but in the & groups Of is to
10 years, 20 to "a years. and 80 years
and over, there are women than
men. These facts are shown to be in
general agreement with the statistics
respecting the relative numbers of the
sexes born and the death rate Of the
sexes at various ages. The difference
between cities and rural districts. with
respect to the proportions Of the sexes
in the different age groups, xessuch
that they can be Only paftialfysexplsah-
cd by the diRere1oes bstHssn rurea
md urban death srates: <hsy eonse
lead to the conclusion that
predominate among the youn-
ver persons migrating frou the coun-
~ to the cities. while males psedom-
rate among the migrants 1AeFArs e
age. h