Two population censuses were held in Denmark in the eighteenth century, one in 1769 and the other in 1787. That of 1769 was rather primitive, since it consisted merely of a table for each parish setting forth the numbers of persons in various broad categories of age, civil status and occupation, and differentiating them by sex. This census therefore offers only a partial insight into Danish population structure; moreover, the completeness of the census has been much debated.1 The census of 1787 is of far superior quality, because it was based on detailed nominal rolls showing for each individual particulars of name, position in the household, age, civil status and occupation; nearly all these original nominal rolls survive. Because it is voluminous, this valuable sources has, however, been utilised almost exclusively for local and genealogical studies, while national studies of population trends have been based chiefly upon the tables compiled from it by government officials at the end of the eighteenth century.2 However, since these tables employ the same broad classification as does the 1769 census, they give no more information. Thus, for instance, ages are shown in ten year groups, and in the occupations no clear distinction is made between independent entrepreneurs and their families on the one hand and servants and other employees of the enterprise on the other. Without, however, awaiting the comprehensive analysis of the 1787 data, we may obtain a better idea of the population structure by sampling the base material. This article presents the results of a random sample comprising 1 % of the Danish rural population recorded at the census.
