THE POPULATION OF THE EARTH. 401 



Tlie preparation of the new issue has involved unusual labor, 

 as it was necessary to examine all the statistics which have ap- 

 peared since 1882. For many countries which have no censuses 

 Dr. Supan has undertaken special investigations as to population ; 

 in this way he has dealt with Africa, Turkey in Europe and Asia, 

 Arabia, China, East India Islands, etc. Dr. Supan is responsible 

 for the sections dealing with Africa, America, Australia, the Oce- 

 anic Islands, and the polar regions; all colonial statistics have 

 fallen to his share, while Prof. Wagner has looked after Europe 

 and Asia. In several respects the arrangements of the various 

 sections is an improvement on that of former issues. 



In 1866 Behm estimated the population of the earth at 1,350,- 

 000,000. In the sixth issue (1880) of the Bevolkerung der Erde 

 the number had apparently grown to 1,456,000,000, showing an 

 ostensible increase of 106,000,000 in fourteen years. But this dif- 

 ference was really due to more accurate statistics and estimates 

 rather than to actual growth. It was somewhat alarming, how- 

 ever, when in the 1882 issue the total population of the earth 

 appeared as 1,434,000,000, showing a seeming decrease in two 

 years of 22,000,000. But this was largely accounted for by 

 the fact that new investigations compelled the reduction of the 

 estimated population of China from 405,000,000 to 350,000,000. 

 The estimate, reached in the present issue of 1891 for the total 

 population of the earth is 1,480,000,000, showing an increase of 

 46,000,000 over the estimate for 1882, being at the rate of 5,750,000 

 per annum. This estimate is 3,000,000 less than that of Levasseur 

 in 1886, partly due to the fact that Levasseur took higher esti- 

 mates of the population of China and of Africa than have Wag- 

 ner and Supan. But as the data for a very large area of the 

 inhabited globe are to a considerable extent based on guesswork, 

 it is no wonder that estimates should differ, and that we can not 

 be sure of the population of the world to within 60,000,000, possi- 

 bly 100,000,000, either way. In 1880 Prof. Wagner found that, of 

 the total population in that year, precise data based on actual enu- 

 meration (censuses or registration) were available for only 626,- 

 000,000 out of 1,401,000,000— that is, forty-four per cent of the 

 total. This population has meanwhile increased to 737,000,000 

 (though the increase in some cases is only apparent) ; to this must 

 be added 99,000,000, for which, since 1880, exact enumerations have 

 been substituted for vague estimates. This gives 836,000,000 out 

 of the total of 1,480,000,000 of people — i. e., between fifty-six and 

 fifty-seven per cent — of whom fairly precise enumerations have 

 been taken. True, in this is included 113,000,000 (the population 

 of the Russian Empire) of whom a general census, in the modern 

 sense of the term, has not been taken, except in the case of one 

 or two provinces. Although, when the figures are looked at by 



VOL. XL. — 30 



