THE GREAT POPULOUS CENTERS OF. THE WORLD 



BY 



GENERAL A. W. GREELY 



The astonishing groAvth of urban population in the United 

 States during the past decade induced the writer to cursoril}^ 

 examine the tendencies of other countries in this direction, which 

 developed facts indicating very clearly that it is a general and 

 not local migration. 



In conducting the research, lists were made of the five hun- 

 dred or more cities in Avhich the population exceeds fifty 

 thousand, in which doubtless live one-fifth of the fourteen hun- 

 dred and eighty millions which make up the population of the 

 world. From this list have been selected the hundred cities 

 having the greatest number of inhabitants, and, with one excep- 

 tion (Canton,) no place has been included unless its 23opulation 

 has been determined b}^ census. In general, the figures here 

 given agree with those in that most excellent publication, " The 

 Statesman's Year Book." The census year is not uniform, and 

 as it may be said that the growth of cities outside of the United 

 States lies, in general, between one and two per cent annually, 

 the order of rank here given is not absolute. 



Of the five hundred cities with a population above fifty thou- 

 sand, the countries having the greatest number are : United 

 States, 85 India, 76 ; Great Britain, 72 ; German}^-, 47 ; Russia, 

 34 ; France, 33 ; Japan, 17 ; Spain, 16 ; Austria-Hungary, 15 ; 

 Italy, 14. Four-fifths of all are situated in these ten countries 

 and one-sixth in the United States. No less than three of the 

 ten cities having a million of inhabitants are in the United 

 States, and also four of the sixteen great population centers of 

 the world. This last designation is here given to cities of more 

 than three-fourths of a million, this dividing line in rank being 

 at once apparent, as there are practically no cities with popu- 

 lation between half a million and three-fourths of a million. 



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