LAW OF POPULATION ILLUSTRATED 173 



The vital statistics of Eussia which he furnishes in 

 his annual reports give the births, deaths, and mar- 

 riages of the twenty-one years 187999, and these 

 show that the present death-rate of Russia transcends 

 that of any European country, and that her birth-rate 

 is also much higher. 



From 1879 to 1888 the average annual death-rate 

 was 34'3 per 1000 persons, giving the average length 

 of life at 29 years 56 days; and from 1889 to 1898, 

 3 4 '6 5 per 1000 persons, giving the average length 

 of life at 28 years 317 days. There can be no 

 doubt that the difference between the information 

 supplied more than a century ago to Malthus, and 

 that supplied to-day to the Registrar-General of 

 England, is due entirely to the greater approximation 

 to accuracy of the latter. 



I now present in juxtaposition the three highest 

 death-rates in Europe and contrast with them those 

 of Sweden and Norway for the same decades. 



