Evening star., 1896-01-04
ENGLAND AND FRANCE.
They Are Now Almost Evenly Match.
ed I'm Population.

They Are Now Almost Evenly Match.
ed I'm Population.
From the London Standard.
The question as to the growth of France
and the united kingdom respectively. in
point of population is one of more than
mere idle or patriotic curiosity; it is OBJ
viously matter of the highest practical
and political moment Few people appear
adequately to realize the enormous change
which has been wrought in the relative po-
sitions of the two nations in this respect In
the present century, almost within the
memory of persons still living. Suffice IL
to say that while Britain has been advanc-
ing at an increasing rapid rate, France has
been almost uniformly dropping behind,
the addition she made to her population by
the annexation of Savoy and Nice having
been counterbalanced a few years later by
the loss of Alsace-Lorraife. How the two
nations now stand Will appear within the
next few months. when the next QuinQuen-
The result promises to be a surprise both
for Englishmen and FOR Frepchmen for It
VIII almost to certainty demonstrate the
fact that the united kingdom, for the first
time in history, now possesses larger
population than France.
At the commencement of the nineteenth
century, the French vastly outnumbered
the British. Throughout the war against
the first Napoleon, there were seven French
men to every four Britons. In the year 1901
France possessed a population of between
7,349 .O03). while the united kingdom num-
bered less than 100000 Q5,S96, 412) In
other words, the French In 1901 outnunl-
bered the British by l., 100000 This enor-
nous disproportion has however, long ago
disappeared. Almost every census that has
been taken in the two countries since 1901
has red iced the difference between their re-
spective populations, and almost invariably
TO the advantage of Great Briton, until in
1891 1t was found that the French super
iority In numbers had shrunk to little more
than half a million. The census which was
taken In both countries in that year gave
France little over thirty-eight and one
third millions C3s, ,343, 1922 and the united
kingdom rather less than 3S.O00.000 C3T. 1877.
0]3). We observe, therefore. that during the
first ninety years of the century the in-
crease in France was lin round numbers)
only 100000, while in Great Britain II
was 22.000,000; that is to say, Great Britain
had been increasing twice as fast as her
neighbor. 1t then became a practical GER
tafnty that, even before the next British
census of 1901, the population of the Brit
fsh Isles would, for the first time in the
history of the two nations, be larger than
that of France. -,:l ...l-.--s -.
But we have official returns, published on
the authority of the two governments,
which enable us already to go further than
this. ami which Justify us in affirming tnat,
even at the present date December 1899,
than that of France-larger. probably by
fully 1,0O0,000 souls. The returns relating
to the birth and deaths in France have in
recent years been such as to inspire
thoughtful and patriotic Frenchmen with
the gloomiest apprehensions. They have
discovered, to their surprise and alarm,
that the French race, instead of increasing,
have actually been. declining, and that not
ewing to the ravages of war or disease but
chiefly as a consequence of the habits and
deliberate choice of the people themselves
In proof of this statement Il is sufficient
to mention one or two significant figures
In the year 1891 the number Of deaths ex-
ceeded that of the births In all France by
over 10000 Q0,JO5). In the following year
QS92) the excess of deaths over births was
more than 10000 (2004D, so that in the two
years there was, apart from immigration,
an actual falling off of over 10000 in the
French population. In 1893, II is true there
was slight recovery, the births being
about 1000 G,146) more than the deaths,
but the balance on the three years was a
decrease of over 23.0oo ca, 400 in the total
number of people of French birth in 1898
as compared with 1870. French writer's
Eave naturally taken alarm at these figures
for they suggest the ominous question,
Are the natives of France then, actually
On the decline? Is the population of the
country henceforward destined to dwindle
year by year? And IL its numbers are kept
up, is II to be, not by natural increase and
multiplication of the native race, but
wholly and solely by the immigration OF
aliensT 1t is already sufficiently clear
that unless there has been a change In
1894 aud 1895 in regard to the births and
deaths, the census of 1896 will show a de-
cline in the numbers of the native race,
and that, IL there be any increase at all In
the total population in 1896 as compared
With 1891. it will be due exclusively to for.
eigners settling in the country