QUIKOGA: a MEXICAN MtTNICIPIO — BRAND 



67 



Table 6. — Distribution of unmarried girls under IS and 

 unmarried boys under 21 



Table 7. — Distribution of sex by age, 1940 



Unmarried girls under 18 and unmarried boys 

 under 21 years of age in 1940 and according to our 

 census of 1945 were distributed as shown in table 

 6. The proportions for the females seem to be in 

 accord, but the reduction in absolute numbers as 

 well as percentage of unmarried boys from 1940 to 

 1945 probably represents a weakness in our census 

 of 1945. We have reason to believe that often 

 boys between 16 and 20 years of age would be In- 

 cluded among adults merely because they were 

 gainfully employed. In any case, an unmarried 

 minor population that constitutes about half of the 

 total is a significant fact. 



AGE AND SEX 



The distribution of sexes by age, according to the 

 census of 1940, in general resembles the norms 

 determined for Mexico by the 1930 census but 

 there are some important deviations. In the first 

 place, the 1940 census gives Quiroga alnaost as 

 many males as females (only 3 more females). 

 Because of this virtual equivalence, various of the 

 age-sex concentrations do not show up so clearly 

 as they might if there were a more decided pre- 

 dominance of the females. In 1930 males predom- 

 inated at all ages from newly born babies through 

 the 10- to 14-years group, and in the groups from 55 

 to 59, 65 to 69, and 75 to 79; and females predom- 

 inated in all age groups from 15 to 19 through 50 

 to 54, and also 60 to 64, 70 to 74, and from 80 up- 

 ward. In Quiroga the males predominate up to 

 15, but the superiority of females from 15 to 55 is 

 broken io the 25 to 29 and 30 to 34 groups, and 

 there are some other minor differences, as can be 

 seen in table 7. 



Three facts stand out in the statistics given 

 above. Quiroga has a young population, with 

 53.52 percent of the people (55.18 percent of the 

 males and 51.77 percent of the females) of an age 

 under 20 years. Males predommate in the ages 



S3584-— 50— 6 



0-19 (excess of 60 over females), and also from 

 0-34 (excess of 66), but the greatest concentration 

 is in the range 0-14 (excess of 66) ; while the 

 females predominate in the range 20-99 (excess 

 of 68), and especially 35-69 (excess of 81). Ap- 

 parently if a child can get through the critical 

 years between birth and 9 years it has an excellent 

 chance for survival, although women (once they 

 have finished bearing children) have better 

 chances in middle and old age than do men. 



VITAL STATISTICS 



PARISH AND CIVIL REGISTERS 



At present the vital statistics in Mexico are 

 obtained from the decennial censuses, special 

 censuses, and from the civil register. However, 

 the oldest source of such data is to be found in 

 the parochial books or registers which covered 

 baptisms (the equivalent of a registry of births 

 among a wholly Roman Catholic population), 

 marriages, deaths, and other subjects such as con- 

 firmations and Christian census or visitation of 

 the parish {status animarum). Presumably such 

 registers were kept from early colonial times on- 

 ward to the present, although the practice, forms 

 of inscription, and archival preservation, were not 

 fully regulated until the CouncU of Trent (1545- 

 63), the Milanese Councils (1565-82), the Council 

 of Cambrai (1586) and the adoption of the Roman 

 Ritual (1614). A Franciscan convent and a mis- 

 sionary church were established in Cocupao- 



