YOUNG COUNTRIES

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 16, 19 January 1924, Page 10

YOUNG COUNTRIES

WHY MALES EXCEED FEMALES

Of the estimated- population of the Commoonwealth of Australia in June, 1923, 2,897,047 were males and 2,791,045. females. The male population therefore exceeded the female population by 106,----002. Probable reasons for this> condition of affairs are given in the last Commonwealth Year-Book.' ' , Itis stated (says the Melbourne ',' Argus") that in their sex composition the populations of young countries contrasted sharply with older countries. In young countries , there- was , invariably a greater. number of males than females ; whereas •in countries that had been long settled there was a reverse tendency. In older countries the popu-'. latioijs had grown almost entirely by the excess of births over deaths, Which tended to .an equality in' the numbers of the sexes. In many instances that natural tendency has been deflected to an excess of females. That had possibly been due to the preponderance of males among immigrants, the employment of males away from their honie c.°.? n.tr .y in^ he Army, and Navy, and mercantile marine, or the effects of war. On the, other Hand,-increases in population were largely bro.ught about by : immigration, in.' which males preponderated. The pioneering conditions of a young country are fless attractive to females than to males, and in the case of Australia' the disabilities which we're inseparable -from- the early stages, of settlement were aggravated by the distance from Great Britain and ,by the circumstances and methods of colonisation. Those conditions accentuated the different^ in numbers between^ the sexes. . ;■. Exact information regarding fhe sexes J of the^very. early settlers in Australia is not availa|jle, . but on 31st December, ■J. 796,-; there was. an excess of 44 male*! [in evetylOO of a total .population of 41.00. The development. in later years of the natural industries •of the country attracted male rather than female immigrants, and, notwithstanding the equalling. tendency of the expanding factor of natural increase and the heavy loss of males caused by the war, the population ot Australia on 31st December, 1922, contained an excess of 1.77 males in every 100 persons. The relations ■': between the degree of the' development of a country and the masculinity of its ! population is further exemplified by the existing conditions in. the various States of, Australia. Among the States the ' greatest \ masculinity is associated with the smallest density of population; \in other words, the masculinity is greater in less developed States. For instance, in Queensland, which embraces more than 22 per cent, of the area of Australia, but holds only about 14 per cent!.' of the total population (1.18 persons to the square mile), the ' masculinity is■ 5.49, and in Western Australia, where the density of population is. less (0;35 persons to he square mile), the masculinity is greater (6.74). On the other hand, in Victoria, where the density is greatest (18.10 to the square mile), there is an excess of females of 0.82 per 100 persons. If either New South Wales or South Australia is included, the indexes to masculinity will fall in reverse sequence to the indexes, to density for' all the other States. l Victoria, with a population of 797,623 males and 809,963 females on 30th June, is the only State in the Commonwealth in which there are more women than men.