An Inquiry into the Present State of Population in England and Wales; and the Proportion which the present Number of Inhabitants bears to the Number at former Periods
By: By William Wales, F.R.S. and Master of the Royal Mathematical School in Christ's Hospital.
Publisher: Printed by G. Bigg, Denmark Court, Strand, for C. Nourse, in the Strand
Published: 1781
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 79
Notes: The DNB entry on William Wales, astronomer, mathematician and traveller, states: 'Wales took great interest in questions of population, and instituted a series of inquiries both in person and by letter into the condition of the country. He found, however,that many people had a strong dislike to any 'numbering of the people' from the belief that it was contrary to the injunctions of scripture, and he encountered so much opposition that he became convinced of the impossibility of carrying his researches very far. He published the result of his labours in 1781, under the title 'An Inquiry into the Present State of the Population in England and Wales' ... in which he combated the belief then prevalent that population was decreasing'.

Half-title reads: 'An Inquiry into the Present State of Population in England and Wales'.