Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/536

of frontier which have occurred during the whole period covered by the table. If this rectification had not been made it is obvious that the figures resulting from the observations of the two periods would not have been comparable in the case of Italy and several other states (Block, p. 405; Haushofer, p. 120). We may mention that the actually observed yearly rate of increase in the population of England and Wales between 1871 and 1881 was 1·44 per cent. of the population in 1871.

	Period Observed.	Yearly Rate of Increase.	Period Observed.	Yearly Rate of Increase.
France	1800–60	0·48	1860–77	0·35
Italy	1800–61	0·61	1861–78	0·71
United Kingdom	1801–61	0·98	1861–78	0·92
England and Wales	1801–61	1·37	1860–75	1·24
Ireland	1801–61	0·17	1861–78	0·46	¹
Denmark	1801–60	0·93	1860–78	1·11
Sweden	1800–60	0·82	1860–78	1·15
Norway	1800–60	0·99	1860–78	0·86
Russia in Europe	1851–63	1·20	1863–75	1·11
Austria (Cisleithan)	1830–60	0·64	1860–78	0·86
Hungary	1830–60	0·27	1860–77	0·55
Switzerland	1837–60	0·59	1860–78	0·60
Prussia (without recent annexations)	1820–61	1·21	1861–75	0·98
Prussia (with recent annexations)	1830–61	1·16	1861–75	0·83
Bavaria	1818–61	0·55	1861–78	0·54
Saxony	1820–61	1·41	1861–78	1·56
Würtemberg	1834–61	0·34	1861–78	0·76
Holland	1795–1859	0·71	1859–77	0·95
Belgium	1831–60	0·48	1860–78	0·82
Portugal	1801–61	0·39	1861–74	1·17
Spain	1800–60	0·66	1860–77	0·35
Poland	1823–58	0·72	1858–77	1·95
Greece	1821–61	1·22	1861–77	0·97
Servia	1834–59	1·92	1859–78	1·19
United States	1860–70	2·04	1870–80	2·61

¹ Decrease.

It must be noted that, while the table may be relied on so far as Signior Bodio’s treatment of the data goes, the data for the earlier part of the century are very defective, and the results deduced from them must be regarded as less trustworthy than those for the more recent of the two periods.

During the earlier half of the century the rate of increase in the United States ranged from 2$\scriptstyle {\frac {3}{4}}$ to 3 per cent. per annum in the successive decades from census to census. The increase in the population of the United States has hitherto depended so much on immigration that at present inquiries into the normal birth and death rates of that country are very difficult, except in the eastern States. Of the total population, 50,442,060, as shown in the census of 1880, no less than 6,619,943, or over 13 per cent., were foreigners. The fact already mentioned, that the proportion of women to men is unusually low, serves to remind us that normal phenomena of population must not as yet be looked for in the American Union.

	Period Observed.	Average Yearly Number of Births to 100 Inhabitants.
Italy	1865–78	3·70
France	1865–77	2·58
England and Wales	1865–78	3·56
Scotland	〃	3·52
Ireland	〃	2·67
Prussia	〃	3·87
Bavaria	〃	3·94
Saxony	〃	4·17
Austria	〃	3·88
Hungary	1865–77	4·18
Switzerland	1870–78	3·08
Belgium	1865–78	3·21
Holland	1865–77	3·56
Sweden	1865–78	3·04
Spain	1865–70	3·57
Greece	1865–77	2·88
Roumania	1870–77	3·04
Russia in Europe ¹	1867–75	4·95
Poland	1865–77	4·23

¹ Excluding Poland.

The birth-rate in different countries is influenced by various circumstances into which it is not possible to enter at length. The most important circumstance is the proportion borne by the number of women of child-bearing age to the whole population. There are other circumstances which must be kept in mind in comparing the birth-rates of different countries, such as the character of the age scale as a whole, and the density of population, besides climatic and other physical characteristics of the environment of the populations examined. The birth-rate is high in new countries, where there is always a larger proportion of young men than in old states, and where the proportion of women of child-bearing age is also large. The latter circumstance is, we may point out, quite consistent with the statement already made, that in new countries the proportion of women to men is smaller than in old ones. For an unusually large proportion of the total number of women in new countries are young.

Some facts relating to the absolute number of births may here be briefly referred to. The most important of these is its composition as regards sex. We have already seen that in most populations there are more women than men. This is not a consequence of there being more girls born than boys, for the fact is just the contrary. The following table (IX.) shows the number of male births to every 100 female births which took place in the undermentioned countries during the periods stated (Movimento, &c., p. 126; Haushofer, p. 218):—