Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/870

 514

FRAi^CE

In 1891 the total population of the same towns was 6,996,331. For fiscal and electoral purposes the population of each commune is divided into agglomerated, scattered, and separated {compt6e d part) ; the first two constitute the municipal population, and the third consists of garrison, college, prison, and hospital population. In 1891 the total agglomerated population was 23,191,218 (60-5 per cent.); scattered, 14,061,625 (36-6 per cent.); separate, 1,091,349 (2-9 per cent); total, 38,343,192. Different from this is the distinction between urban and rural population, a commune being urban where the agglomerated population is over 2,000, and rural where under 2,000. In 1891 the total urban population was 14,311,292 (37-4 per cent); the riiral, 24,031,900 (626 per cent). In 1896, of the 36,170 com- munes 28,005 had each a population under 1,000 ; 5,443 had a population from 1,000 to 2,000 ; 2,134 from 2,000 to 5,000 ; 337 from 5,000 to 10,000 ; 134 from 10,000 to 20,000 ; and 117 over 20,000.

Religion.

There has been no religious census in France since 1872. All religions are equal by law, and any sect which numbers 100,000 adherents is entitled to a grant ; but at present only the Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Jews have State allowances. For three years these grants were estimated as follows : —

—

1897

1898

1899

Administration, &c. Roman Catholic worship. Protestant worship. Jewish worship

Total

Francs

254,000

41,136,923

1,495,100

206,530

Francs

257,000

41,106,923

1,495,100

206,530

Francs

277,000

41,085,923

1,495,100

206,530

43,092,553

43,065,553

43,064,553

There are 17 archbishops and 67 bishops; the number of Catholic ecclesiastical officials paid by the State in 1899, was 42,417. At the end of 1892, the secular clergy, including teachers, numbered 55,600, and there were 8,358 pupils in ecclesiastical seminaries. The value of the total gifts and legacies made to the Church during the present century up to 1882 is 23,976,733 francs. The Protestants of the Augsburg Confession, or Lutherans, are, in their religious affairs, governed by a General Consistory ; while the members of tiie Reformed Church, or Calvinists, are under a Council of Administration, the seat of which is at Paris. In 1899 there were 638 pastors of the Reformed Church, and 62 Lutheran, while the Jewish rabbis and assistants numbered 57. In the Protestant Theo- logical Facult^s of Paris and Montauban there were 137 students in 1898.