From the very beginning, the Danish authorities kept the population in the colony well accounted for. The last census in the islands under Danish flag was conducted on February 1, 1911.
The population increases dramatically until the 1850’s
The first census, referred to as a land list, was conducted in 1680 where the colony was only constituted by St. Thomas. The population of the island was 739 – settlers and slaves combined. In the years to follow, many slaves were transported to the islands, and by 1755 the population of the three islands had increased to 16,875 – and by 1796 to 36,657.
By 1835 the population of the three islands amounted to 43,178, of which 26,879 were slaves. At this time, the city of Charlotte Amalie with its population of more than 11,000 inhabitants was larger than any provincial town in Denmark. After this, the population decreased steadily to 27,086 in 1911. Censuses were taken in 1846, 1850, 1855, 1857, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1901, and 1911.
Number of inhabitants on St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas
Until the abolition of slavery in 1848, there was a distinction between the free and the enslaved. In the beginning of the 1800s, the enslaved amounted to about 80 percent of the inhabitants, while colored free persons amounted to 10 percent, and the European settlers another 10 percent. At this time, by far the majority lived at plantations in the country. In 1880, 60 percent of the population lived in the cities.
In the 1911 census, 57 percent of the population lived on St. Croix, 39 percent on St. Thomas, and less than 4 percent on St. John . When cultivation of sugar was at its peak in 1796, the population was distributed differently, with 79 percent on the sugar island St. Croix and about 16 percent and almost 6 percent respectively on St. Thomas and St. John.
