ABOUT THE ACCURACY OF EVALUATIONS FOR THE NUMBER OF THE POPULATION OF BULGARIA IN SOME PAST HISTORICAL PERIODS

Dimitar Arkadiev

Abstract: The article examines the problem of the accuracy of the estimates of the population of Bulgaria in some more remote periods in the past. The discussion is limited to the population of Medieval Bulgaria. A source base for its determination is virtually absent. Therefore, methods and approaches developed by different authors are applied.<br><br>Answers are provided to some questions about the methods applied to estimate population numbers. These questions are asked by participants in web forums discussing the topic. The overall answer is that there is no single model describing the change in the number of the population. Each model has varied time, country, region and other limitations.<br><br>Therefore, the country-specific estimates received often contain big errors. Provided are examples with the assessment of the population of Medieval Bulgaria. Given are some models suggested by Josiah Cox Russell. They were built on the basis of households’ registration data from England in 1086. On some occasions, these models deliver good results, and in others, they do not. This is explained by the differences in the development of England and Bulgaria in the studied age.<br><br>

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Date published: 2018-06-07