40 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



DENSITY OF POPULATION 

 O 10 20 30 



DIAGRAM SHOWING THE NUMBER OP 

 INHABITANTS PER SQUARE MILE 

 AT EACH CENSUS PERIOD 



the Dakotas, and the entire West are 

 filling up their waste places, while in 

 many places, as in Nevada, mining is 

 playing a part. 



REMARKABLE GROWTH OP PAClPlC COAST 



STATES 



The most phenomenal growth has 

 taken place on the Pacific coast. The 

 three States bordering the western ocean 

 show the following percentages of in- 

 crease : California, 6o.i ; Oregon, 62.7, 

 and Washington, 120.4. These three 

 States together contributed 1,775,612 to 

 the increase of the country, or 11 per 

 cent of the total amount. Their contri- 

 bution was nearly as great as that of 

 the empire State of New York, and far 

 larger than that of any other State. The 

 increase in these States consisted mainly 

 in the growth of cities and in filling up 

 the well-watered regions near the coast. 



OUR DENSITY OP POPULATION COMPARED 

 TO THAT OP EUROPEAN COUNTRIES 



In density of population the States 

 show the widest sort of variations, rang- 

 ing from 517 inhabitants to a square 

 mile in Rhode Island, 420 in Massachu- 

 setts, and 337 in New Jersey, down to 

 less than 1 to a square mile in Nevada. 



The most densely populated countries 

 of Europe are Belgium, with 587, and 

 Netherlands, with 408. 



The great manufacturing States of the 

 Northeast have an average density of 

 more than 200 to a square mile. The 

 agricultural States south of the Potomac 

 and Ohio have about 40 to a square mile, 

 the density decreasing southward and 

 westward. Those of the upper Missis- 

 sippi Valley east of the great plains are 

 equally well populated. 



The plains States — the Dakotas, Ne- 

 braska, Kansas, and Oklahoma — still 

 have great vacant spaces to be filled, as 

 they support now on an average not over 

 15 to a square mile. 



In all the mountain States the popula- 

 tion is sparse, ranging from less than 1 

 inhabitant to a square mile in Nevada 

 up to 8 in Colorado. The three Pacific 

 States are much more fully populated, 

 but there is still room for two or three 

 times as many people before the agricul- 

 tural limit will be reached. 



In running down these columns of fig- 

 ures, it is interesting to note that, in the 

 agricultural States, as the density of 

 population increases the rate of increase 

 diminishes. Consider, for instance, the 

 Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. South 

 Carolina, with the greatest density, has 

 the lowest rate. North Carolina next, 

 then Georgia, while Florida, with much 

 the lowest density, has far the highest 

 rate. Kentucky and Tennessee show the 

 same phenomena. Indeed, as a general 

 statement, it applies to all the agricul- 

 tural States. 



The increase of population was largely 

 in the cities, and not alone in those of 

 100,000 or more inhabitants, but perhaps 

 in equal measure in smaller ones. The 

 total population in cities of 25,000 or 

 more inhabitants was 28,508,007, leaving 

 63,464,259 in smaller towns and in rural 

 communities. In 1900 the corresponding 

 figures were 21,078,189 and 54,916,386. 

 The cities grew at the rate of 35 per 

 cent, while the smaller places and the 

 rural districts increased at the rate of 

 only 15.5 per cent. In 1900 these cities 



