In Sweden, it has lessened by one-ninth in 61 years. In Prussia, by a third in 132 years. In Denmark, by a quarter in 82 years. In England, by two-sevenths in a century. In Russia, by an eighth in 28 years. In Spain, by a sixth in 30 years. In Germany, by a thirteenth in 17 years. In France, by a third in 71 years.[10]
Or, in other words:
In Sweden it has lessened by a fifth; in Prussia, by a fourth; in Denmark and England, by a third; and in Russia, Spain, Germany, and France by a half, in a single century.
For the sake of convenience, larger bodies of statistics existing concerning it, and from the fact that it represents the extreme of the alleged decrease, we take France for our comparisons.
In France at large, according to the official returns as analyzed by Legoyt, the increase of the population which, from 1801 to 1806, was at the rate of 1.28 per cent. annually, from 1806 to 1846 had fallen to about .5 per cent.[11] The exact ratio of decrease after this point is better shown by the figures themselves. The increase from 1841 to 1846 was 1,200,000; from 1846 to 1851, 380,000; from 1851 to 1856, 256,000.
In England, during this latter period, with a population of but one-half the size, the returns of the Registrar-General show a relative increase nine times greater.[12] In thirty-seven years, from 1817 to 1854, the mean annual increase in France was not more than 155,929, yet in five years, from 1846 to 1851, it had fallen to 76,000 yearly, and from 1851 to 1856, to 51,200, and this with a population ranging from twenty-nine to thirty-four millions.
A comparison of these facts, with those obtaining in other European States, will make the above still more evident. We now quote from Rau.[13]
| Rate of Increase. | |
|---|---|
| Per Cent. | |
| Hungary, according to Rohrer | 2.40 |
| England, from 1811 to 1821 | 1.78 |
| ” from 1821 to 1831 | 1.60 |
| Prussia, from 1816 to 1827 | 1.54 |
| ” from 1820 to 1830 | 1.37 |
| ” from 1821 to 1831 | 1.27 |
| Austria, (Rohrer) | 1.30 |
| Scotland, from 1821 to 1831 | 1.30 |
| Netherlands, from 1821 to 1828 | 1.28 |
| Saxony, from 1815 to 1830 | 1.15 |
| Baden (Heunisch,) from 1820 to 1830 | 1.13 |
| Bavaria, from 1814 to 1828 | 1.08 |
| Naples, from 1814 to 1824 | 0.83 |
| France (Mathieu,) from 1817 to 1827 | 0.63 |
| France, more recently, (De Jonnés) | 0.55 |
A similar and corroborative table, containing additional matter, is given by Quetelet;[14] its differences from the preceding are owing to its representing a series of different years.