CHAPTEH XYI. 



STATISTICS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



Population. 



P to the beginning of the present century the population of the 

 British Islands was only known approximately, the estimates 

 being based upon the number of hearths or the yield of certain 

 taxes. Its increase during the whole of the Middle Ages can 

 have been only slow, for its growth was impeded by a want of 

 roads, the low state of agriculture, the rudimentary condition of industry, frequent 

 wars, and a neglect of sanitary laws ; and famines often carried off more men 

 in a few months than had been added to the population in a generation. It is 

 probable that at the commencement of the seventeenth century the number 

 of inhabitants did not exceed 5,000,000. Since then the growth has been 

 continuous, for the construction of roads has rendered it possible to supply corn to 

 districts afflicted by bad harvests, whilst the increase of commerce and industry 

 has opened up fresh resources to the inhabitants. 



When the first census was taken in 1801, it was found that the British 

 Islands were inhabited by 16,000,000 individuals, and their number has 

 more than doubled during the eighty years which have since elapsed.* At the 

 present time the population increases annually at the rate of more than 300,000 

 souls. Between 1861 and 1871 the daily increase amounted to 500 persons, 

 and since then it has risen to a diurnal increment of 1,000 souls, without there 

 being any sign of a reaction. The British Islands are amongst the most densely 

 populated countries of the world. In England the number of inhabitants 



Population of the Britiah Isles : — 



England and Wales 



Scotland ..... 



Ireland 



Isle of Man and Channel Islands 

 Total . 



1801. 1871. 1880. 



8,892,500 22,712,2.50 25,480,160 



1,608,400 3,360,000 3,661,290 



5,395,500 5,411,500 5,363,590 



100,000 144,650 150,000 



15,996,400 31,628,400 34,655,040 



