1850. ÉVI ERDÉLYI NÉPSZÁMLÁLÁS (1994)

HELYNÉVMUTATÓ

196. It is conspicuous that while the number of houses increases at high paces that of the number of persons per one house decreases and its values are significantly lower than expected. (As if according to the strict instruction the concept of the house would have been interpreted too broadly. ) Perhaps the most important results of the 1850 population census contain the data of the composition of the population of Transylvania by nationality groups. This is the first official count in this area with a mixed population of several nationality groups whose destinies will later be decisively determined by the nationality group and demographic proportions. From a Hungarian point of view the data are not too favourable: the joint number of those belonging to the Hungarian and Szekely nationality groups is smaller than expected and constitutes hardly over one quarter of the total population. The Saxons (and also the Germans) were few and their proportion in the population of Transylvania did not reach even 10 percent while the Roumanians were in absolute majority. Roumanians 1, 225, 618 59.4 % Hungarians and Szekelys 536,803 26.0 % Germans and Saxons 192,270 9.3 % Gipsies 78,885 3.9 % Armenians 7,687 0.4 % Jews 15,606 0.8 % Other 4,776 0.2 % Total 2,061,645 100.0 % Nevertheless the proportions of the Roumanians and of the Hungarians are lower and, respectively, higher than estimated in 1773 by. N. Giurgiu who relied on uncertain sources and took into consideration only three nationality groups in Transylvania (Roumanian - 63.5 %, Hungarian - 24.1 % and German - 12.4 % From the calculation based on the data with regard to religion - by subtracting the number of Greek Orthodox gipsies results close to those of 1850 are obtained. The distortion of the 1910 population census is also due to a similar error: the proportion of the smaller population groups fell from 5.3 to 1.4 %. because a significant part of the gipsies, Armenians and Jews became of Hungarian mother tongue. The 34.6 % proportion of the Hungarians does not indicate outstanding successes in the field of Hungarianization but can be regarded as somewhat higher than their actual share. Compared to the proportion of the Hungarians in 1850 no major change is registered either by the 1977 Roumanian population census which shows a respective value is 25.0 %, though after the World Wars some 200 000 Hungarians left the area of Transylvania included in the census. At the same time, because of a substantial drop in the proportion of the Saxons, that of the proportion of the Roumanians reached 70%.^® 1850 1910 1977 Roumanians 1,225,618 59.4 % 1,608,108 55.3 % 3,074,216 70.1 % Hungarians 536,803 26.0 % 1,005,529 34.6 % 1,095,655 25.0 % Germans 192,270 9.3 % 234,901 8.1 % 165,117 3.8 % Other 106,954 5.4 % 59,969 2.0 % 50,966 1.1 % Total 2,061,645 2,908,507 4,385,954 The data of the distribution by religion are similar to those of the distribution by nationality groups: Roman Catholics 219,536 10.6 % Greek Catholics 664,154 32.2 % Greek Orthodox 621,852 30.2 % Calvinists 297,121 14.4 % Lutherans 197,371 9.6 % Unitarians 46,012 2.2 % Israelites 15,599 0.8 %