Woman under socialism

by August Bebel

Although in the year 1892 the population of Germany was larger by 8,000,000 heads than in 1872, the number of marriages was not even as large as in 1874 when it amounted to 400,282. In the period between 1871-1880, there were, to an average of 1,000 inhabitants in Germany, 8.6 marriages; in the period between 1881-1888, only 7.8.

In Prussia, to the average 10,000 inhabitants, there married—

Between 1831-35	1,849
Between 1866-70	1,605
Between 1871-75	1,896
Between 1881-85	1,529
And in 1888	1,624

A similar, partly even more unfavorable picture than in Germany, is furnished by the statistical tables for other European countries.

Out of every 10,000 persons, there married—

Years	Holland	Switzerland	Austria	France	Italy	Belgium	England
1873	171	152	188	178	159	156	176
1874	168	166	181	167	153	152	170
1875	167	179	171	164	168	145	167
1876	165	162	165	158	163	142	166
1877	162	157	150	150	154	149	157
1878	155	147	152	151	142	135	152
1879	153	138	155	152	150	136	144
1880	150	137	152	149	140	141	149
1881	146	136	160	150	162	142	151
1882	143	135	164	149	157	140	155
1883	142	136	157	150	161	136	154
1884	144	136	157	153	164	136	151
1885	139	138	152	149	158	136	144
1886	139	137	155	149	158	134	141
	———	———	———	———	———	———	———
Average	153	147	161	155	156	141	156

Years	Scotland	Ireland	Denmark	Norway	Sweden	Hungary
1873	155	96	162	145	146	226
1874	152	92	164	153	145	214
1875	148	91	170	157	140	218
1876	150	99	171	154	141	198
1877	144	93	161	151	137	182
1878	134	95	148	146	129	187
1879	128	87	147	135	126	205
1880	132	78	152	133	126	182
1881	139	85	156	128	124	198
1882	140	86	154	134	127	203
1883	140	85	154	132	128	205
1884	135	91	156	137	131	201
1885	129	86	151	133	133	...
1886	124	84	142	131	...	...
	———	———	———	———	———	———
Average	139	89	156	141	133	202

These figures are interesting in more respects than one. In the first place, they prove that, in all the countries named, the number of marriages declines. Like Germany, all these countries show the highest frequency of marriage in the beginning of 1872, and then follows a drop in most of them. Hungary comes out best; Ireland, on the contrary, worst, showing the smallest figures of all. The ejectment of the Irish population from their lands, and the ever greater concentration of the same in the hands of the large landlords, express themselves clearly in the figures given.[79]

Industrial conditions have a marked effect upon the number of marriages. As the former has, on an average, become ever more unfavorable since the middle of the seventies, the decline in marriages is not astonishing. But not the industrial conditions only, also the manner in which the property relations develop affects marriages in a high degree, as just seen in Ireland. The Year-Book of Schmoller for 1885, section 1, gives information on the statistics of population of the Kingdom of Wuertemberg, from which it appears strikingly that with the increase of large age declines, while the number of unmarried men between the ages of 40 and 50 rises: