Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/115

Rh the town population of England is computed at four-fifths of the whole, in France it is about two-fifths of the whole.

Land is very equally distributed among the bulk of the population, and the same is the case with personal property. The funded debt of France, 540,000,000/. sterling, in round numbers, was held, on January 1, 1867, by 1,095,083 persons, giving a share of about 500/. to each. On the other hand, the national debt of Great Britain, 770,000,000/. sterling, was held in 1865 by only 126,331 persons, giving a share of more than 6,000/. to each on the average. There are fully 6 million houses in France, the greater number of them freeholds, with plots of land belonging to their occupiers.

Official documents recently published show that from 1836 to 1861 the rural population underwent a diminution of 1*18 per cent., while that of the towns constantly increased, but in very different proportions. In the towns of from 5,000 to 10,000 inhabitants, the augmentation was little, while it was more than 60 per cent, in the towns of more than 20,000 souls. The following was the progressive increase in the population of the four principal towns of France, from 1820 to 1866, date of the last census:—

Town

Population in 1820

Population in 1861 Population in 1866

Paris Lyon Marseille Bordeaux

713,766 115,841 101,217 92,375

1,696,141 318,803 260,916 162,750

1,825,274 323,954 300,131 194,241

The subjoined table gives the result of marriage in France as compared with other countries:—

Countries

Period of Births to each observation

marriage

France

1851-60

3.07

Switzerland

1856-60

3.90

Norway

1851-60

3.92

England

1862-64

3.94

Austria

1861-63

3.95

Belgium

1857-64

3.97

Bavaria

1858-62

4.02

Saxony

1860-62

4.10

Netherlands

1860-62

4.23

Russia

1858

4.46

Spain

1858-61

4.47

Prussia

1859-61

4.48

Greece

1861

4.49

Italy

1863-67

4.95