THE DECLINING BIRTH RATE 121 
tury, the population of most civilized countries has considerably, 
and in some cases very greatly increased. The population of 
England and Wales between 1801 and 1911 has more than quad- 
tupled; that of Scotland has nearly trebled. In the 60 years 
between 1851 and 1911 the population in Russia has increased 
from 55,818,000 to 105,651,000; in Austria from 17,525,000, to 
28,568.000; in Hungary from 13,192,000, to 20,851,000 and in 
Prussia from 16,935,000 to 40,163,000. Of all countries on the 
continent of Europe, France has shown the slowest rate of in- 
crease, and in late years the population has been nearly station- 
ary. Ireland since 1851 has suffered an actual decrease of popu- 
lation owing largely to the low birth rate and the extensive 
migration of her people to America. 
The rapid increase in the population of the United States is 
due to the circumstances that produce a rapid increase in most 
new countries which have been opened up to settlement by the 
white race. The early settlers, being generally of a hardy and 
prolific stock, living for the most part under wholesome condi- 
tions, increased at an unusually rapid rate. Their numbers being 
continually augmented by a rapidly increasing flow of immigrants 
produced in a few centuries one of the most populous nations of 
the earth. In Australia and New Zealand, in which we meet with 
conditions more or less similar to those found in the United States, 
there has been a similar rapid increase of population, but owing 
to a more discriminating control of immigration the stock has 
remained of a more homogeneous character. 
The two chief factors in the increase of population in most 
civilized countries are (1) the great industrial development 
whereby countries are able to support a much larger number of 
people than formerly, and (2) the gradual reduction in the rate 
of mortality which has been effected through advances in medi- 
cal science, and especially hygiene. Aside from gains or losses 
through migration, the changes that occur in the number of 
inhabitants of any country depend upon the relative proportion 
of births and deaths. Notwithstanding the decline in the birth 
rate, the natural increase of several countries is higher than it was 
