CHILDREN OF SCHOOL AGE.
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In the following table are shown the proportions which illegitimate children under 10 years of age bore to all children of that age, in each province and in the city of Habana. Comparison is limited to the above age group in order to obtain a more accurate measure of the extent of illegitimacy in the provinces.
PROVINCE OR CITY.
Per cent illegitimate form of population under 10 years of age.
Camag端ey Habana
City of Habana Matanzas Oriente Pinar del Rio Santa Clara
18.4 18.5 20.7 25.5 38.8 29.8 20.0
The above figures may be regarded as applying to all ages. In other words, in Camaguey and Habana provinces between 18 and 19 per cent of all the people were born of consensual marriages, and in Oriente not less than 38 or 39 per cent. CHILDREN OF SCHOOL AGE.
The children of school age, 5 to 17 years, numbered 541,445 in 1907, and formed 26.4 per cent of the total population. This proportion compares with 35.1 per cent in Cuba in 1899, 33.8 per cent in Porto Rico in 1899, and 28.3 per cent in the United States in 1900. This great reduction in the proportion of children of school age in Cuba in 8 years calls for explanation. During the revolution and reconcentrations, however much the children of school age may have suffered, those below school age suffered far more. Not only did a large proportion of them perish, but their numbers were lessened by the decrease in marriages and births. The children who were in 1899 less than 5 years of age were in 1907 in the class of school age, and that class was consequently reduced. Indeed, the number of children of school age in 1907 was actually less than the number in 1899 (552,928). Of the children of school age in 1907, 272,585, or 50.3 per cent, were males, and 268,860, or 49.7 per cent, were females. The following table shows for each province and for the city of Habana the proportion of school children to total population:
PROVINCE OR CITY.
City of Habana Habana
Habana, excluding the city Matanzas Santa Clara Pinar del Rio Oriente Camagtley
Per cent children 5 to 17 years of age form of total population. 22.6 23.4 24.3 25.4 25.8 28.7 29.2 29.5