Population

We are living in unusual and unpredictable times. Auroville has gone through two Corona waves, and international tourists have only just this month been allowed back to India after a year and a half. Even Indian inter-state travel stopped during the height of the lockdowns. Consequently, this year’s population statistics are an exception to what has been a continued growth of roughly one hundred people per annum. 

The Entry Service office was shut for a number of months during our second wave, but in the summer they restarted processing applicants. Every week in the News and Notes, Aurovilians and Newcomers are announced, revealing a time lag for the many people who came here as volunteers or were already living here before they decided to enter the Newcomer process.

At the end of 2021, our population is 3286. This includes Aurovilians, Newcomers, pre-Newcomers and children. Despite the pandemic, this is still a small increase on last year’s total with twenty-four new people, probably the smallest increase in Auroville’s recent history. Extraordinarily, the genders are almost exactly balanced, with 1642 men and 1644 women. 

India continues its journey towards providing half the registered population of Aurovilians, with 1504 up from last year’s number of 1475. Aside from India, the next most populous nations, France and Germany, continued to grow slightly, France by three to 459, and Germany by one to 260, whilst fourth placed Italy added four to 176. 

In contrast, some nations have reduced their representation a little. Korea decreased by five to fifty-two people, Belgium has lost three to forty-three, Israeli down two to fifty, Canada now has twenty-six citizens instead of twenty-nine, and Sweden lost four to have twenty-four habitants. 

Our total of nations increased by one to 60, with the welcome addition of a resident from Sudan. For long, Auroville has been represented by inhabitants from India, Europe and North America. Over time people from Africa, South and Central America, Asia-Pacific have been slowly arriving and increasing our international diversity. 

As always, one wonders why Auroville is more popular with one nation than others. Could kibbutzes be a factor in why we have fifty Israeli brothers and sisters? Other than the nine Iranians, there are no other Middle Eastern nations here. And why, of the Scandinavians, are there twenty-four Swedes but only four Danes, two Norwegians, two Finns, and –  if you stretch far westward –  one Icelander?

There has always been a notable Francophone presence in Auroville, a legacy no doubt of The Mother and Pondicherry, which may account for the relatively large numbers of French, Swiss and Belgians (though both Belgium and Switzerland are multilingual societies). Other curious contrasts include Spain with sixty-four residents and its Iberian neighbour, Portugal, with just two. South Korea, despite its decrease to fifty-two residents, is still well represented compared to its neighbour, Japan, which has thirteen residents.

What seems notable and a sign of Auroville’s continuing allure is that, despite the pandemic’s closure of international travel and, at times, of inter-state visitors, Auroville continues to grow.