COUNTRIES OF DECREASE 19 



These figures show the position reached at 

 the time of the last census available in each 

 country ; but for full appreciation of the 

 facts account must be taken of the move- 

 ment in each. We have seen above that with 

 us agriculture has been declining in relative 

 importance for a century, and that the 

 agricultural population has been decreasing 

 absolutely for something like 80 years. The 

 only other countries in the above table 

 showing an absolute decrease between the last 

 two censuses are Austria, Switzerland, and 

 Norway. In Austria the agricultural section 

 dropped by about 260,000 between 1890 and 

 1000 ; but it is still so preponderant (61 per 

 cent.) that the difference is immaterial. 

 Austria has still over eight million persons 

 engaged in agriculture, against three millions 

 in industry and mining. In Switzerland 

 agriculture lost from 6,000 to 7,000 persons 

 between 1888 and 1900. This is a relatively 

 large number for its small population, which 

 is considerably less than that of London, and 

 indicates a rapid process of conversion. It is 

 an interesting, but little known, fact that 

 Switzerland has in recent years been more 

 rapidly industrialised than any other country 

 with one exception, and now takes second 

 place to Great Britain in regard to the pro- 

 portion of persons engaged in industry. The 

 exception just mentioned is Norway, where 



