Demographics of the Ottoman Empire
This article is about the demographics of the Ottoman Empire, including population density, ethnicity, education level, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Lucy Mary Jane Garnett stated in the 1904 book Turkish Life in Town and Country, published in 1904, that "No country in the world, perhaps, contains a population so heterogeneous as that of Turkey."
Census
Demographic data for most of the history of the Ottoman Empire is not quite precise. For most of the five centuries of its existence, the empire did not have easily computable valid data except figures for the number of employed citizens. Until the first official census, data was derived from extending the taxation values to the total population. Because of the use of taxation data to infer population size, detailed data for numerous Ottoman urban centers - towns with more than 5,000 inhabitants - is accurate. This data was collaborated with data on wages and prices. Another source was used for the numbers of landlords of households in the Ottoman Empire- every household was assumed to have 5 residents.1831 Ottoman census
Entire villages remained uncounted. Taxable population was enumerated, i.e. healthy men over 15 years old. For some settlements the rest of the male population was the majority.1844 Ottoman Census
1881-1893 Ottoman Census
The first official census took 10 years to finish. In 1893 the results were compiled and presented. This census is the first modern, general and standardized census accomplished not for taxation nor for military purposes, but to acquire demographic data. The population was divided into ethno-religious and gender characteristics. Numbers of both male and female subjects are given in ethno-religious categories including Muslims, Greeks, Armenians, Bulgarians, Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Latins, Syriacs and Gypsies.In 1867 the Council of States took charge of drawing population tables, increasing the precision of population records. They introduced new measures of recording population counts in 1874. This led to the establishment of a General Population Administration, attached to the Ministry of Interior in 1881-1882. Somehow, these changes politicized the population counts.
1905-1906 Ottoman census
After 1893 the Ottoman Empire established a statistics authority under which results of another official census was published in 1899.Istatistik-i Umumi Idaresi conducted a new census survey for which field work lasted two years. 2-3 million people in Iraq and Syria remained unregistered and uncounted.
As a factual note this survey's complete documentation was not published. Results of regional studies on this data were published later, which were sorted by their publication date. Included in the publication and subsequent ones was the Ottoman Empire's population as of 1911, 1912, and 1914. The substantial archival documentation on the census has been used in many modern studies and international publications. After 1906 the Ottoman Empire began to disband and a chain of violent wars such as the Italo-Turkish War, Balkan Wars and World War I drastically changed the region, its borders, and its demographics.
1914 Ottoman census
1866 [Danube Vilayet] census
In 1865, 658600 Muslims and 967058 non-Muslims, including females, were living in the province excluding Niş sanjak and 569.868 Muslims, apart from the immigrants and 1.073.496 non-Muslims in 1859-1860. Half the Muslims were refugees from a population exchange of Christians and Muslims with Russia. Before the establishment of the Danube Vilayet, some 250000-300000 Muslim immigrants from Crimea and Caucasus had been settled in this region from 1855 to 1864. Another 200-300,000 male and female Circassian and Crimean Tatar refugees settled in 1862-1878 were to a degree excluded from the 1866 census count.Male population of the taxable population of the Danube Vilayet:
Percentage of communities in towns from the male population in 1866 according to Ottoman teskere:
| Town | Bulgarians | Muslims | Gypsies | Armenians | Jews |
| Vidin | 34 | 52 | 6 | 8 | |
| Sofya | 38 | 39 | 4 | 20 | |
| Lom | 58 | 35 | 3 | 5 | |
| Dupnice | 38 | 46 | 5 | 11 | |
| Plevne | 47 | 45 | 5 | 2 | |
| Rusçuk | 38 | 52 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Şumnu | 40 | 51 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Varna | 49 | 40 | 1 | 8 | 2 |
| Silistre | 30 | 62 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
In 1873, 17,96% of the population of the province were living in the urban areas.
1874 [Danube Vilayet] census
According to the 1874 census, there were 963596 Muslims and 1318506 non-Muslims in the Danube Province excluding Nış sanjak. Together with the sanjak of Nish the population consisted of 1055650 Muslims and 1539278 non-Muslims in 1874. Muslims were the majority in the sanjaks of Rusçuk, Varna and Tulça, while the non-Muslims were in majority in the rest of the sanjaks.[Eastern Rumelia] census
Census in Eastern Rumelia of 1878:| Community | Population | Percentage |
| Bulgarians | 571231 | 70.3% |
| Muslims | 174759 | 21.4% |
| Greeks | 42516 | 5.2% |
| Roma | 19524 | |
| Jews | 4177 | |
| Armenians | 1306 |
Census of Eastern Rumelia in 1880:
| Ethnicity | Population | Percentage |
| Bulgarians | 590000 | 72.3% |
| Turks | 158000 | 19.4% |
| Roma | 19500 | 2.4% |
| others | 48000 | 5.9% |
The ethnic composition of the population of Eastern Rumelia, according to the provincial census taken in 1884, was the following:
| Ethnicity | Population | Percentage |
| Bulgarians | 681,734 | 70.0% |
| Turks | 200,489 | 20.6% |
| Greeks | 53,028 | 5.4% |
| Roma | 27,190 | 2.8% |
| Jews | 6,982 | 0.7% |
| Armenians | 1,865 | 0.2% |
Population of Eastern Rumelia according to the 1880 census:
| kaza | Bulgarians | Turks | Greeks | Roma | Jews | Armenians |
| Plovdiv | 127.619 | 36.848 | 14.265 | 4736 | 1185 | 806 |
| Haskovo | 74.656 | 55.334 | 1138 | 2116 | 246 | |
| Stara Zagora | 124.666 | 27.115 | 35 | 2811 | 431 | |
| Sliven | 96.425 | 12.463 | 14.184 | 3685 | 845 | 276 |
| Pazardzhik | 94.873 | 14.898 | 676 | 3487 | 1112 | 152 |
| Burgas | 36.997 | 28.091 | 11.798 | 2686 | 358 | 71 |
1903-1904 census of [Salonika Vilayet]
Population of the Salonika vilayet:| sanjak | Muslims | Greeks | Bulgarians | Vlachs | Jews |
| Saloniki | 220.000 | 190.000 | 85.000 | 15.000 | 48.000 |
| Serres | 145.000 | 78.000 | 130.000 | 4000 | 2000 |
| Drama | 119.000 | 22.000 | 4000 | 1000 |
Ethnoreligious estimates and registered population
Eyalets
The Muslim population in Silistra subprovince was most numerous, while in the Vidin and Nis subprovinces the non-Muslim population constituted 75.59% and 81.18% respectively. Population of the eyalets which constituted the establishment of the Danube Vilayet, according to the 1858 report of the British consul Edward Neale:| Community | Population |
| Bulgarian Orthodox | |
| Muslim | |
| Vlach | |
| Greek | |
| Jewish | |
| Others | |
| TOTAL |
[Danube Vilayet]
The Danube Province was founded in 1864 and consisted of the subprovinces of Ruse, Varna, Tulcea, Tarnovo, Vidin, Sofia and Niş. Two subprovinces were separated from the Danube Province, so that Niş sanjak was part of Prizren Vilayet in 1869-1874, while the detached Sofia Province was founded in 1876, and finally both Sofia and Niş were annexed to Adrianople and Kosovo Vilayets respectively in 1877.The entire population of the province, reached ca. 2,6 Millions, including 1 Million Muslims and 1.5 Million non-Muslims before the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, with the main national components consisting of Bulgarians and Turks. New large communities of Circassians and Tatars were resettled in the province among the 250,000-300,000 Muslim refugees from Crimea and the Caucasus from 1855 to 1864; however, after the war of 1877-78, both the Muslim and Turkish population dropped by almost half, leaving only 63 Circassians recorded in Bulgaria by 1880.
The male population of the Danube Vilayet in 1865, according to Kuyûd-ı Atîk :
| Community | Rusçuk Sanjak | Vidin Sanjak | Varna Sanjak | Tırnova Sanjak | Tulça Sanjak | Sofya Sanjak | Danube Vilayet |
| Bulgar Millet | |||||||
| Islam Millet | |||||||
| Ulah Millet | |||||||
| Ermeni Millet | |||||||
| Rum Millet | |||||||
| Yahudi Millet | |||||||
| Muslim Gypsies | |||||||
| Non-Muslim Gypsies | |||||||
| TOTAL |
The male population of the Danube Vilayet in 1866-1873, according to the editor of the Danube newspaper Ismail Kemal:
| Community | Population |
| MUSLIMS | |
| - Established Muslims | |
| - Muslim settlers | |
| - Muslim Gypsies | |
| CHRISTIANS | |
| - Bulgarians | |
| - Greeks | |
| - Armenians | |
| - Catholics | |
| - other Christians | |
| JEWS | |
| NON-MUSLIM Gypsies | |
| TOTAL Danube Vilayet |
The male population of the Danube Vilayet in 1868, according to Kemal Karpat:
| Group | Population |
| Christian Bulgarians | 490,467 |
| Muslims | 359,907 |
The male population of the Danube Vilayet in 1875, according to Tahrir-i Cedid :
| Community | Rusçuk Sanjak | Vidin Sanjak | Varna Sanjak | Tırnova Sanjak | Tulça Sanjak | Sofya Sanjak | Danube Vilayet |
| Bulgar Millet | |||||||
| Islam Millet | |||||||
| Ermeni Millet | |||||||
| Rum Millet | |||||||
| Yahudi Millet | |||||||
| Circassian Muhacirs | |||||||
| Muslim Gypsies | |||||||
| Non-Muslim Gypsies | |||||||
| Vlachs, Catholics, etc. | |||||||
| TOTAL |
The male population of the Danube Vilayet in 1876, according to the Ottoman officer Stanislas Saint Clair:
| Community | Population |
| Turk Muslims | |
| Other Muslims | |
| Bulgarian Christians | |
| Armenian Christians | |
| Vlach and Greek Christians | |
| Gypsies | |
| Jews | |
| TOTAL Danube Vilayet |
The total population of the Danube Vilayet, according to the 1876 edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica:
| Group | Population |
| Bulgarians | |
| Turks | |
| Tatars | |
| Circassians | |
| Albanians | |
| Romanians | |
| Gypsies | |
| Russians | |
| Armenians | |
| Jews | |
| Greeks | |
| Serbs | |
| Germans, Italians, Arabs and others | |
| TOTAL Danube Vilayet |
The total Population of the Danube Vilayet in 1876, estimated by the French consul Aubaret from the register:
| Community | Population |
| MUSLIMS | |
| incl. Turks | |
| incl. Circassians | |
| incl. Tatars | |
| incl. Gypsies | |
| NON-MUSLIMS | |
| incl. Bulgarians | |
| incl. Gypsies | |
| incl. Greeks | |
| incl. Jews | |
| incl. Armenians | |
| incl. Vlachs and others | |
| TOTAL Danube Vilayet |
The total population of the two mainly Turkish sanjaks of the Danube Vilayet in 1876, according to the French consul Aubaret:
| Community | Varna Sanjak | Rusçuk Sanjak |
| Turks | ||
| Bulgarians | ||
| Circassians | ||
| Gypsies | ||
| Greeks | ||
| Jews | ||
| Armenians | ||
| Vlachs | ||
| TOTAL |
[Adrianople Vilayet]
Total population of the Adrianople Vilayet in 1878 according to the Turkish author Kemal Karpat:| Group | POPULATION | - | - | - |
| Bulgarians | - | - | - | |
| Other Christians | - | - | - | |
| Muslims | - | TOTAL Adrianople Vilayet |
Male population of the Filibe Sancak of the Adrianople Vilayet in 1876 according to the British R. J. Moore:
| Turks | Muslim Gypsies | Christian Gypsies | Bulgarians | Greeks | Armenians | Jews | KAZA TOTAL | - | |
| Filibe kaza | |||||||||
| Tatar Pazardzhik kaza | |||||||||
| Hasköy kaza | |||||||||
| Zagora kaza | - | ||||||||
| Kazanlak kaza | - | ||||||||
| Chirpan kaza | - | ||||||||
| Sultan-Jeri kaza | - | ||||||||
| Akcselebi kaza | - | ||||||||
| TOTAL Filibe Sanjak | - |
Male population of İslimiye sanjak of Adrianople Vilayet in 1873 according to Ottoman almanacs:
| Community | Population |
| Muslims | 37,200 |
| Non-Muslims | 46,961 |
| TOTAL Islimiye sanjak |
Male population of İslimiye sanjak of Adrianople Vilayet in 1875 according to British R.J. Moore:
| Community | Population |
| Muslims | |
| Non-Muslims | |
| TOTAL Islimiye sanjak |
Total population of the Sanjak of Gümülcine of the Adrianople Vilayet In the 19th century:
| Sanjak | Muslims | Christian Bulgarians | Christian Greeks |
| Gümülcine | 206.914 | 20.671 | 15.241 |
[Eastern Rumelia]
Total population of the later Eastern Rumelia before and after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 after forced migration:| Population | 1875 | 1878 | 1879 |
| Muslim Turks | +100.000 | ||
| Muslim Pomaks | |||
| Muslim Tatars | |||
| Muslim Circassians | |||
| Muslim Gyspies | |||
| Jews | |||
| Bulgarian Catholics | |||
| Bulgarian Exarchists | |||
| Grecophile Bulgrians | |||
| Greeks | |||
| Greek Vlachs | |||
| Greek Albanians | |||
| Armenians | |||
| TOTAL |
[Constantinople Vilayet]
Population of Istanbul in 1885 according to Stanford Shaw :| Group | Born in | Born outside |
| Muslim | 143.586 | 241.324 |
| Greek Orthodox | 68.764 | 83.977 |
| Armenian Orthodox | 78.679 | 70.991 |
| Bulgarian | 46 | 4331 |
| Catholic | 3722 | 2720 |
| Jewish | 42.363 | 1998 |
| Protestant | 225 | 594 |
| Latin | 609 | 473 |
[Salonika Vilayet]
Male population of some sanjaks in 1880 according to Earl Granville:| Sanjak | Muslims | Greeks | Patriarchist Bulgarians | Exarchist Bulgarians | Vlachs | Jews |
| Siroz | 54.436 | 31.820 | 28.053 | 25.335 | 2859 | 988 |
| Salonika | 95.669 | 61.434 | 43.099-50.000 | 15.975 | 4462 | 25.473 |
Male population of some sanjaks in 1878 according to Bulgarian Kusev and Gruev:
| Sanjak | Muslims | Bulgarians | Greeks | Vlachs | Gypsies | Pomaks |
| Siroz | 29.344 | 90.895 | 17.226 | 1812 | 1170 | 13873 |
| Salonika | 39.441 | 126.000 | 13.279 | 1751 | 2862-8697 |
Total population of some sanjaks in 1881 according to Italian Hondros:
| Sanjak | Turks | Greeks | Bulgarians | Jews | Vlachs |
| Siroz | 91.700 | 66.500 | 114.580 | 1520 | 4150 |
Total population of some sanjaks according to vice-consul Stanislas Recchioli in 1878:
| Sanjak | Muslims | incl. Turks | Christians |
| Drama | 270.998 | 249.165 | 43.549 |
Total
Total population according to Abdolonyme Ubicini who based the statistics on the Ottoman census of 1844:| community | in Europe | in Asia | in Africa |
| Turks | |||
| Greeks | |||
| Armenians | |||
| Jews | |||
| Slavs | |||
| Romanians | |||
| Albanians | |||
| Tatars | |||
| Arabs | |||
| Assyrians and Chaldeans | |||
| Druzes | |||
| Kurds | |||
| Turcomans | |||
| Gypsies | |||
| Muslims | |||
| Christians | |||
| Jews | |||
| Total |
s concerning the Constantinople Conference.
European part
Estimates in some eighteen sources show that the Muslims constituted about 35% of the total Balkan population during the first half of the 19th century, while in the second half of the century the proportion grew to 43%. According to thirty three sources the proportion of Turks in the European provinces during the 19th century ranges from 11 to 24 percent; of Greeks from 9 to 16 percent; of Bulgarians from 24 to 39 percent. The Turks made up two thirds of the Muslims in the Danube Vilayet and most of them in the Adrianople Vilayet and Salonika Vilayet. In the more western vilayets the Muslims were a majority, which consisted usually of Slavs and Albanians. In the Ioannina Vilayet the Orthodox Christians were dominant, a majority of whom were ethnically Albanian according to Ottoman officials and were also three fourths of the Muslims. In 1867 Salaheddin Bey estimated 595,000 Circassian newcomers in the European part and 400,000 Armenians in European part. Practically all of the Circassians began migrating to Anatolia after the Russian military advances in the last quarter of the century.Total population of the European part in 1831 according to David Urquhart:
| Community | Population |
| Muslim Turks | |
| Muslim Albanians | |
| Muslim Bosniaks, Tuleman, Pomaks | |
| Christian Greeks | |
| Christian Slavs | |
| Christian Albanians | |
| Christian Vlachs | |
| Jews, Armenians, etc. | |
| TOTAL |
Total population of the European part in the 1840s according to Auguste Viquesnel:
| Ethnic group | Total | Muslims | Christians | Jews |
| Moldo-Wallachians | 3,976,825 | 135,280 | ||
| Bulgarians | 60,000 | 2,940,000 | ||
| Ottomans, Yörüks, Tatars | 2,100,000 | |||
| Albanians | 1,250,000 | 150,000 | ||
| Bosnians and Herzegovians | 600,000 | 700,000 | ||
| Serbs | 15,000 | 987,600 | 1,400 | |
| Greeks | 15,000 | 960,000 | ||
| Armenians | 400,000 | |||
| Gypsies | 140,000 | |||
| Croats | 200,000 | |||
| Montenegrins | 100,000 | |||
| Jews | 70,000 | |||
| Cossacks | 9,000 | |||
| TOTAL | 4,180,000 | 10,723,425 | 206,680 |
Total population of European part in 1872 according to the military attaché in Constantinople Ritter zur Helle von Samo based on Ottoman province yearbooks:
| Vilayet | Muslims | Non-Muslims |
| Istanbul | ||
| Adrianople | ||
| Scutari | ||
| Prizren | ||
| Danube | ||
| Janina | ||
| Salonica | ||
| Bosnia | ||
| Crete | ||
| Istanbul | ||
| Serbia | ||
| United Principalities | ||
| Montenegro |
Total population of the European part in 1876 according to Ernst Georg Ravenstein who relied on several sources including Ottoman statistics:
| Community | Population |
| Muslim Turks and Tatars | |
| Muslim Bulgarians | |
| Muslim Albanians | |
| Muslim Serbs | |
| Muslim Circassians | |
| Muslim Gypsies | |
| Muslim Greeks | |
| Muslim Arabs | |
| Muslim foreigners | |
| Non-Muslim Bulgarians | |
| Non-Muslim Greeks | |
| Non-Muslim Serbs | |
| Non-Muslim Albanians | |
| Non-Muslim Romanians | |
| Non-Muslim Armenians | |
| Jews | |
| Non-Muslim foreigenrs | |
| Non-Muslim Gypsies | |
| Non-Muslim Russians | |
| TOTAL |
Total population of some sanjaks in 1877 according to Russian diplomat Teplov:
| Sanjak | Bulgarians | Non-Bulgarians | Muslims | Non-Muslims |
| Vidin | 263.000 | 131.600 | 39.723 | 333.317 |
| Tırnova | 188.500 | 112.000 | 68.199 | 328.390 |
| Niş | 283.000 | 148.100 | 72.188 | 36.0559 |
| Sofia | 297.500 | 189.000 | 57.789 | 428.949 |
| Rusçuk | 201.025 | 354.324 | 268824 | 290626 |
| Varna | 36.000 | 74.100 | 64.621 | 45.875 |
| Tulça | 40.570 | 188.930 | 103.328 | 116.203 |
| Total | 1.310.695 | 1.198.054 | 674.672 | 1.903.919 |
| Islimiye | 100.500 | 186.400 | 64.459 | 213.066 |
| Philippopolis | 382.500 | 564.600 | 318.052 | 628.770 |
| Total | 1.793.695 | 1.949.054 | 1.057.183 | 2.745.755 |
Population of the sanjaks according to a Greek author:
| Sanjak | Greeks | Bulgarians | Muslims | Others |
| Tekirdağ | 117.600 | 19.000 | 32.000 | |
| Gelibolu | 98.900 | 35.000 | 10.000 | |
| Adrianople | 171.000 | 78.320 | 125.000 | 35.000 |
| Islimiye | 37.100 | 54.200 | 54.300 | 30.000 |
| Filibe | 32.000 | 180.000 | 120.000 | 38.000 |
| Drama | 42.000 | 1000 | 35.000 | 30.000 |
| Salonika | 210.500 | 59.500 | 140.000 | 70.000 |
| Siroz | 175.000 | 20.000 | 84.000 | 15.000 |
| Bitola | 278.000 | 60.000 | 90.000 | 20.000 |
Male Population of the parts of the Danube, Adrianople and Salonika vilayets corresponding to the modern Republic of Bulgaria in 1875 according to Totev:
| Place | Muslims | Non-Muslims |
| Total | 687.998 | 1.053.387 |
| Danube Vilayet | 451.680 | 712.842 |