I really have problems understanding the differences in population growth in Europe.
I mean, the basic stuff is obvious:
More advanced agricultural technologies and medicine increase population growth, while war famine and better education/industrialization decrease it.
Still, there are numerous cases I just can't wrap my head around:
France for example was for centuries the largest European country in terms of population, it was even the third most populous nation in the world, after China and India for a long time.
But after about 1800 population growth just plummeted. French population, for example, grew only by 8.6% between 1871 and 1911, while German population grew by 60% and British population by 54% with comparable living conditions.
Not only that, but France had extremely low emigration numbers compared to Britain and Germany and lots of private societies and the government supporting programs for population growth.
Why was that?
Another strange example is Russia: Between 1722 and 1762 the population grew from 14 million to 19 million, while almost doubled from 19 to 35.5 between 1762 and 1800, in roughly the same time. It doubled again between 1800 and 1860, an absolutlely insane population growth compared to the rest of Europe.
Can someone explain that to me? I looked up Wikipedia, and while it provided the raw numbers, there wasn't really an explanation.
I mean, the basic stuff is obvious:
More advanced agricultural technologies and medicine increase population growth, while war famine and better education/industrialization decrease it.
Still, there are numerous cases I just can't wrap my head around:
France for example was for centuries the largest European country in terms of population, it was even the third most populous nation in the world, after China and India for a long time.
But after about 1800 population growth just plummeted. French population, for example, grew only by 8.6% between 1871 and 1911, while German population grew by 60% and British population by 54% with comparable living conditions.
Not only that, but France had extremely low emigration numbers compared to Britain and Germany and lots of private societies and the government supporting programs for population growth.
Why was that?
Another strange example is Russia: Between 1722 and 1762 the population grew from 14 million to 19 million, while almost doubled from 19 to 35.5 between 1762 and 1800, in roughly the same time. It doubled again between 1800 and 1860, an absolutlely insane population growth compared to the rest of Europe.
Can someone explain that to me? I looked up Wikipedia, and while it provided the raw numbers, there wasn't really an explanation.