Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/536

516 of frontier which have occurred during the whole period covered by the table. If this rectification had not been made it is obvious that the figures resulting from the observations of the two periods would not have been comparable in the case of and several other states (Block, p.405; Haushofer, p.120). We may mention that the actually observed ly rate of increase in the population of and  between  and  was 1·44 per cent. of the population in.

It must be noted that, while the table may be relied on so far as Signior Bodio’s treatment of the data goes, the data for the earlier part of the century are very defective, and the results deduced from them must be regarded as less trustworthy than those for the more recent of the two periods. 1em During the the rate of increase in the ranged from 2 to 3 per cent. per in the successive decades from to. The increase in the population of the has hitherto depended so much on  that at present inquiries into the normal birth and death rates of  are very difficult, except in the eastern. Of the total population, 50,442,060, as shown in the of, no less than 6,619,943, or over 13 per cent., were. The fact already mentioned, that the proportion of to  is unusually low, serves to remind us that normal phenomena of population must not as yet be looked for in the.

1em

The -rate in different is influenced by various circumstances into which it is not possible to enter at length. The most important circumstance is the proportion borne by the number of of   to the whole population. There are other circumstances which must be kept in in comparing the -rates of different, such as the character of the age scale as a whole, and the density of population, besides  and other  of the populations examined. The -rate is high in new countries, where there is always a larger proportion of young than in old, and where the proportion of  of  age is also large. The latter circumstance is, we may point out, quite consistent with the statement already made, that in new the proportion of  to  is smaller than in old ones. For an unusually large proportion of the total number of in new  are young. Some facts relating to the absolute number of may here be briefly referred to. The most important of these is its composition as regards. We have already seen that in most populations there are more than. This is not a consequence of there being more  than, for the fact is just the contrary. The following table (IX.) shows the number of  to every 100   which took place in the undermentioned  during the periods stated (Movimento, &c., p.126; Haushofer, p. 218):—