Between the 1930s and 1960s, the colony was a neglected backwater, whose only economic significance was to supply Portugal with about one-third of its vegetable oil needs by growing peanuts. It was unclear if its population of about 500,000 in 1950 was sufficient to grow enough peanuts to pay for its imports and administration and still grow all the food it needed. In 1951, because of anti-colonialist criticism in the United Nations the Portuguese government renamed all of Portugal's colonies, including Portuguese Guinea, as Overseas Provinces (Províncias Ultramarinas).