THE SUDAN'S THREE TOWNS: A DEMOCRATIC AND ECONOMIC PROFILE OF AN AFRICAN URBAN COMPLEX, PART I. INTRODUCTION AND DEMOGRAPHY

The 1st part of a 3 part paper which attempts to measure certain demographic & econ characteristics of the Three Towns in the Republic of the Sudan: contiguous Khartoum, Khartoum North & Omdurman at the junction of the Blue & White Niles. total/sum pop in 1956 was over 237,000. The Ur econ region is introduced & a N of more important demograhpic characteristics are discussed, including tribal & nat'lity groups, languages, sex ratios, vital statistics & literacy indicators. Statistics extracted from the nat'l income accounts compose the econ measurements for the project. Some difficulties in obtaining statistics on the region are noted, & it is stated that data are subject to a degree of error, ie, accounting & recording problems, the blurred line separating migrants from local citizens, etc. It was found that this Ur region is econ'ly utterly diff from any of the other 8 regions in Sudan. Noted are the high concentration of secondary & tertiary activity, incidence of high income, high output, personnel, & the relatively high & sophisticated consumption levels. The following conclusions are reached: (1) More Sudanese, esp those from the Western provinces, are moving to this Ur region than to other regions of the country, mainly because of job availabilities. (2) Most of the people in Khartoum speak English, Darfurian & West African languages. (3) The need for LF increases has resulted in an imbalanced sex ratio in the cities, ie, too many men, whereas the opposite ratio obtains in the rest of the country. (4) The birth rate is below that of the nat'l mean/average partly because of the relative lack of enough F's of child-bearing age & partly because of the desire not to have as many children. Infant mortality rates are lower than elsewhere in the country because of available Med care & higher incomes. (5) This area is the most literate in the Sudan, having well over 50% of the educ'ed people within its boundaries. Modified AA.