Demographics of Crystal Spires

Demographics of Crystal Spires
Demographic trends
Population	250,000,000
Density	100/km2
Growth rate	6.0% per year
Birth rate	37/1000
Death rate	15/1000
Life expectancy	75.8
• male	74.2
• female	77.4
Fertility rate	7 children
Infant mortality rate	50/1000
Age structure
0–14 years	26.3%
15–64 years	67.7%
65 and over	6.1%
Sex ratio
Total	1 male(s)/female
At birth	1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.04 male(s)/female
15–64 years	1 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.77 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	Spirean
Major ethnic	Beastling
Minor ethnic	Human
Language
Official	D'rɑgolɛth
Spoken	D'rɑgolɛth

This article is about the Demographics of D'hɑlbrisir, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. As of July 2012, the Beastling States of Crystal Spires population has an estimated total population of 250,000,000 with 26.3% of the population being 14 years old and younger and 67.7% being of working age, and 6.1% of retirement age. The Population growth rate for 2011 was 2.0%, but now the population growth rate for 2012 is 6.0%. Although a middle to low-income country by Pony Land standards, Crystal Spires's rapid growth has pulled hundreds of millions of its people out of poverty since 1998 with about 10% of the Spirean population living below the poverty line of NSD$1 per day, down from 64% in 1997. Urban unemployment in Crystal Spires reportedly declined to 4% by the end of 2007.

Age

Age Group	Numbers	Percentage
0-14 years or it's equivalent	65,750,000	26.3%
15-64	169,250,000	67.7%
64+	15,250,000	6.1%
Total	250,000,000	100.0%

Ethnic Groups

The Crystal Spires is very cosmopolitan and officially recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups, the largest of which are the Beastlings, who constitute about 56.4% of the total population. Ethnic minorities account for about 43.6% of the population of Crystal Spires, according to the 2012 census. The 2012 census recorded a total of 59,383 foreign citizens living in Crystal Spires. The largest such group was from High Treefolk (12,075), Ealdurim (7,149) and Neutraligon (6,615).

Circa (8/23/2012) Roleplay Population Stats

Racial Classification	Numbers	Percentage
Beastlings	141,000,000	56.4%
Humans	33,750,000	13.5%
Treefolk	32,250,000	12.9%
Elves	21,750,000	8.7%
Changelings	12,750,000	5.1%
Dwarves	7,250,000	2.9%
Unbidden	1,250,000	0.5%
Total	250,000,000	100.0%

Languages and Linguistic Groups

The languages most spoken in Crystal Spires belong to the D'rɑgolɛthic language family. There are also several major linguistic groups within the D'rɑgolɛthic language itself. The most spoken varieties are Luminan D'rɑgolɛth spoken natively by over 80% of the population, while Common, an increasingly important language from the Indo European Language group of the West Germanic Branch, also commonly known as "English" is spoken by a growing number of Spirean people.

Classical D'rɑgolɛth was the written standard in Crystal Spires for thousands of years, and allowed for written communication between speakers of various unintelligible dialects in Crystal Spires. Written vernacular D'rɑgolɛth, is the written standard, based on the Luminian dialect and was first popularized after the Writing Reforms of Saldus. It was adopted, with significant modifications, during the early 20th century as the national standard. Classical D'rɑgolɛth is still part of the high school curriculum, and is thus intelligible to some degree to many Spireans. Since their promulgation by the government in 1956, Simplified D'rɑgolɛth characters have become the official standardized written script used to write the D'rɑgolɛthic language within mainland Spires, supplanting the use of the earlier Traditional D'rɑgolɛth characters. There is also a rise of calls for Romanization of D'rɑgolɛth, for increasing of Literacy.

Urbanization

Since 2000, Crystal Spires's cities have expanded at an average rate of 10% annually. The country's urbanization rate increased from 17.4% to 46.8% between 1978 and 2009, a scale unprecedented in their history. Between 27,750,000 and 37,000,000 migrant workers work part-time in the major cities, returning home to the countryside periodically with their earnings. The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult.

Education

In 1997, Crystal Spires set the long-term goal of providing compulsory nine-year basic education to every child. As of 2007, there were 73,365 primary schools, 17,411 secondary schools, and 414 higher education institutions in the Beastling States of Crystal Spires. In February 2006, the government advanced its basic education goal by pledging to provide completely free nine-year education, including textbooks and fees. Free compulsory education in Crystal Spires consists of elementary school and middle school, which lasts for 9 years (ages 6–15); almost all children in urban areas continue with three years of high school.

As of 2007, 93.3% of the population over age 14 are literate, compared to only 20% in 1950. In 2000, Spirean literacy rate among 15-to-24-year-olds was 98.9% (99.2% for males and 98.5% for females). In March 2007, the High Council declared education a national "strategic priority"; the central budget for national scholarships was tripled between 2007 and 2009, and $5.3 billion signets of extra state funding was allocated between 2007 and 2012 to improve compulsory education in rural areas.

Health

The Ministry of Health, together with its counterparts in the Chancellery health bureau, oversees the health needs of the Spirean population. An emphasis on public health and preventive medicine has characterized Spirean health policy since the early 1990s. At that time, the Communist Party started the Patriotic Health Campaign, which was aimed at improving sanitation and hygiene, as well as treating and preventing several diseases. Diseases such as Cholera, Malaria,and Tuberculosis, which were previously rife in Crystal Spires, were nearly eradicated by the campaign. After Marja Ventuk began instituting economic reforms in 1997, the health of the Spirean public improved rapidly due to better nutrition, although many of the free public health services provided in the countryside disappeared along with the People's Communes. Healthcare in Spires became mostly privatized, and experienced a significant rise in quality. The national life expectancy at birth rose from about 35 years in 1949 to 75.18 years in 2008, and infant mortality decreased from 300 per thousand in the 1950s to around 23 per thousand in 2006. Malnutrition as of 2002 stood at 11% of the population, but rose again post war to an alarming 25%. In 2009, the government began a large-scale healthcare provision initiative worth US$23 billion, which is expected to eventually cover 90% of Spirean population.

As of 2012, Crystal Spires's national average life expectancy at birth is 74.8 years, and its infant mortality rate is 15.6 per thousand births. Despite significant improvements in health and the construction of advanced medical facilities, Crystal Spires has several emerging public health problems, such as respiratory illnesses caused by a rise in air pollution and hundreds of millions of smokers, a possible future HIV/AIDS epidemic, and an increase in obesity among urban youths. Crystal Spires's densely populated cities have led to serious disease outbreaks in recent years, such as the 2003 outbreak of Tuberculosis, although this has since been largely contained.

Religion

Crystal Spires enjoys full religious freedom based on its Constitution. Upper estimates suggest that 84–96 percent of the Spirean population subscribe to Forntian Idealism or Mystrian Pandeism, including a large number of followers of a syncretism of several religions. However, these estimates are based on people affiliated with a temple, rather than the number of true believers. Other studies have suggested that only 70 percent of the population identify themselves as belonging to a particular religion.

The level of religious participation remains high, however, especially during festivals and occasions such as the Day of Law, the Day of Remembrance, the Day of Civil Service, the Ceremony of Great Purification, and the Greater and Lesser Ceremonies for Eventide and Chillmorne. Buddhism, Christianity, and Harmonism from the Pony Lands and other nations have also influenced Spirean beliefs and customs. Spirean streets are also decorated on the Summer Sun Celebration, Christmas and for the Bon Celebration. Fewer than one percent of Spireans are Christian, however. Other minority religions include Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Judaism, and since the ethereal shift numerous new religious movements have emerged in Crystal Spires, but Syncretism is still largely common.