314 



FKAFCE. 



quence, however, of the greater mortality of 

 the male sex, the number of females always 

 exceeded that of the males. The excess in the 

 different census years since 1800 was as fol- 

 lows : 



1800 725,225 



1806 481,725 



1821 868,323 



1831 669,033 



1836 619,508 



1841 445,382 



1846 318,738 



1851 193,242 



1856 299,034 



1861 97,217 



1866 38,906 



1872 137,899 



The proportion of marriages to the total 

 population was : 



1825-1828 1 to 128 inhabitants. 



1829-1833 1 to 126 



1834-1838 Itol23 



1839-1844 1 to 125 



1845-1868. . . .varying from 142 (1847) to 118 (1858). 



1869 1 to 121 inhab tants. 



1870 1 to 165 



1871 1 to 139 



The number of illegitimate children has, since 

 1825, been invariably from seven to eight per 

 cent, of all the children born. There is, how- 

 ever, a marked difference in the towns and in 

 the rural communities. In the department of 

 the Seine they constituted, in 1871, 24.50 per- 

 cent. ; in the towns, by which name the French 

 statisticians designate all the communities with 

 more than 2,000 inhabitants, 10.87; in the ru- 

 ral communities, 4.39. The same proportion 

 has substantially prevailed since 1864. 



The proportion between the town population 

 and the rural population is steadily changing 

 in favor of the former, as will appear from the 

 following table : 



It is especially the larger towns whose pop- 

 ulation rapidly increases ; and while the total 

 population of France showed, from 1866 to 

 1872, a remarkable decrease, the towns with 

 upward of 10,000 increased, as the following 

 table will exhibit : 



In 1869 the number of marriages was larger 

 than it had been for many years back, with the 

 only exception of the year 1858, when it was 1 

 to 118. During the year 1870, when all the 

 young men were called into the field, it was 

 smaller than it had ever been in any year since 

 1825. After the .close of the war, there was at 

 once a large increase. 



The following towns, with a population of 

 more than 30,000. showed, however, a decrease: 



"With regard to nativity and nationality, the 

 inhabitants of France were, in 1872, divided as 

 follows : 



The foreigners constituted, in 1851, 1.06 of 

 the population ; in 1861, 1.33 ; in 1866, 1.67. 

 Their number has therefore steadily increased 

 since 1851. 



The fluctuation in the number of foreign 

 residents of different nationalities is shown by 

 the following table : 



The Germans, owing chiefly to the hostile 

 feelings produced against them by the war, 

 have decreased more than one-half; though 

 the deficiency has almost been made up by the 

 Alsatian and Lotharingian residents, who, at 

 the time the census was taken, had not yet 

 chosen the French nationality. On the other 

 hand, there has been a remarkable increase 

 in the number of Belgians, Italians, and Span- 

 iards. 



The following table, giving the number of 

 voters at the municipal and general elections, 

 has a special importance in view of the efforts 

 made by the present Government to reduce 

 the number of voters : 



