Johnston] 



NAVAHO POPULATION 17 



Second, tlie enumerations of the Bureau provide a separate figure 

 for the population of Navahos residing within the confines of the 

 reservation itself, since the boundaries of the census enumeration dis- 

 tricts are drawn so as to coincide approximately with the reservation 

 bomidaries. 



Third, the Navajo Agency census office provides a figure for the 

 total population of Navahos that are registered on its roUs.^^ 



If each of these three observed populations were recorded with 

 complete accuracy and coverage, we would expect to find the follow- 

 ing correspondence between "observed" and "theoretical" populations : 

 The enrolled population would correspond to the de jure Navaho 

 population, comprising all persons who are legally classifiable as 

 Navahos, regardless of their place of residence; the population of 

 Navaho enumerated in the Navajo Agency area would correspond to 

 the "administrative" Navaho population, comprising those Navahos 

 who reside sufficiently near the reservation to be able to avail them- 

 selves of its administrative services; and the population of Navahos 

 enumerated in the Navaho service area, including residents of the 

 reservation-proper, would correspond roughly to the core population 

 of "cultural" Navahos, comprising those persons who retain a primary 

 identification with the traditional Navaho way of life. 



The following data, obtained from the results of the 1950 and 1960 

 decennial censuses of population and from estimates prepared by 

 officials of the Navajo Agency, provide rough estimates of the size 

 of the Navaho populations which might be classified under each of 

 the three theoretical population categories described above. 



First, the total enrolled Navaho population, corresponding in theory 

 to the de jure total, was estimated by Navajo Agency officials at 69,167 

 in April 1950 and at 93,377 in December 1961. This implies an average 

 annual rate of natural increase of 2.67 percent during this period.-^ 



Second, a total of 64,274 Navahos were enumerated in the 1950 

 census as residing in an area defined as the Navajo Agency area. At 

 this time, Navajo Agency officials estimated that 62,167 Navahos were 

 residing in the Navaho service area. Either figure could be taken 

 as an estimate of the total population of "administrative" Navahos in 

 1950.29 



2' The tribal rolls commonly distinguish between persons residing "in the jurisdiction 

 where enrolled" and persons residing "elsewhere" or "in another jurisdiction." How- 

 ever, in the case of tlie Navaho, this classification becomes increasingly unreliable with 

 the passage of time, since much of the movement that occurs, both between jurisdictions 

 on the reservation and off the reservation, is not recorded by the authorities. 



The general problem of establishing a population register for Indians in the Southwest 

 is treated in Kelly and Hackenberg, 1957. 



->> See footnote 12, p. 8, for the source of these estimates. 



20 The census figure is published in Bureau of the Census, 1953 a, p. 62. No correspond- 

 ing figure can be given from the published results of the 1960 census, since the published 

 data pertain to all Indians enumerated in Apache, Navajo, and Coconino Counties of 

 Arizona, San Juan County of Utah, and McKinley and San Juan Counties of New Mexico. 

 These figures therefore include, in addition to Navahos, several thousand non-Navahos, 

 mostly Hopis, Zunis, and Apaches. See Bureau of the Census, 1963 c, table 51, p. 210. 



