Abstract

In 1871, almost two-thirds (63.9%) of the German population lived in villages with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants. By 1910, that figure had fallen to 40 percent. In that same interval, the percentage of the population living in medium-sized cities (between 20,000 and 99,999 inhabitants) almost doubled. In 1871, less than 5% of the population lived in large cities (more than 100,000 inhabitants). By 1910, however, these cities were home to over 20% of the population.

From mid-century onward, the strongest population growth occurred in Prussia’s western provinces—in Westphalia and the Rhineland, where heavy industry was concentrated in the Ruhr district—and in the Kingdom of Saxony. In 1871, fewer than 20% of Rhinelanders lived in medium-sized or large cities. By 1910, this figure had risen to 50%. Local examples are even more dramatic. Chemnitz, Saxony’s most important industrial city, grew from about 78,000 inhabitants in the mid-1870s to 288,000 inhabitants by 1910.

Population Distribution by Size of Locality: German Reich, Prussian Provinces, and Federal States (1871–1910)

Source

I. Percentage Distribution of the Population

For every 100 members of the total population, the following percentages lived in communities with … inhabitants

Census Year

fewer than 2,000

2,000 and more

1871

63.9

36.1

1875

61.0

39.0

1880

58.6

41.4

1885

56.3

43.7

1890

53.0

47.0

1895

49.8

50.2

1900

45.6

54.4

1905

42.6

57.4

1910

40.0

60.0

and specifically in communities with … inhabitants

2,000 to 4,999

5,000 to 19,999

20,000 to 99,999

100,000 and more

12.4

11.2

7.7

4.8

12.6

12.0

8.2

6.2

12.7

12.6

8.9

7.2

12.4

12.9

8.9

9.5

12.0

13.1

9.8

12.1

12.0

13.6

10.7

13.9

12.1

13.5

12.6

16.2

11.8

13.7

12.9

19.0

11.2

14.1

13.4

21.3

Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich 1934, p. 11. According to the census of early December 1871, the total population was not, as indicated here, 41,010,000, but 41,059,000. The distributions—for 1871 only—also show minimal differences when compared with the figures provided in Bevölkerung und Wirtschaft, p. 94. Data reprinted in Gerd Hohorst, Jürgen Kocka, and Gerhard A. Ritter, Sozialgeschichtliches Arbeitsbuch II, 2nd ed. Munich: Beck, 1978, p. 52.

II. Communities in the Federal States and Prussian Provinces: Population According to Size Category

[Percentage of population] living in communities with … inhabitants

Federal
States and
Prussian
Provinces

Year

Fewer
than
2,000

2,000 to
4,999

5,000 to
19,999

20,000
and more

of them,
100,000
and more

Total
population

Province of
East Prussia

1871

79.2

8.9

11.91

11.9

6.2

1,822,934

1890

74.6

8.5

6.3

10.6

8.3

1,958,663

1910

67.0

6.1

8.9

18.0

11.9

2,064,175

Province of
West Prussia

1871

74.8

9.3

6.7

9.2

1,314,915

1890

68.3

8.6

8.5

14.6

8.4

1,433,681

1910

60.0

8.4

12.8

18.5

10.0

1,703,474

Province of
Brandenburg
(without
Berlin)

1871

46.2

7.3

12.2

34.3

28.9

2,034,801

1890

32.2

6.0

12.0

49.8

38.3

2,541,720

1910

32.0

7.9

13.3

46.7

20.2

4,092,616

Province of
Pomerania

1871

68.7

9.5

14.6

7.2

1,431,492

1890

62.3

7.9

15.8

14.0

7.6

1,520,889

1910

55.3

6.8

14.3

23.5

13.7

1,716,921

Province of
Poznań

1871

79.1

9.4

6.2

5.3

1,583,843

1890

73.7

10.8

9.2

6.3

1,751,642

1910

66.4

7.8

11.9

13.9

7.5

2,099,831

Province of
Silesia

1871

70.0

10.8

11.7

7.5

5.6

3,707,167

1890

60.2

10.9

14.1

14.8

7.3

4,224,458

1910

46.9

10.3

17.9

24.8

9.8

5,225,962

Province of
Saxony

1871

60.2

13.4

14,6

11.8

2,103,281

1890

49.9

14.2

13.4

22.5

11.8

2,580,073

1910

42.9

13.5

12.6

30.9

18.5

3,089,275

Province of
Schleswig-
Holstein

1871

64.2

11.4

11.4

13.0

1,045,419

1890

54.4

10.8

12.6

22.2

11.8

1,219,523

1910

41.4

12.0

14.9

31.7

23.7

1,621,004

Province of
Hanover

1871

75.3

7.3

10.7

6.7

1,963,080

1890

65.3

9.4

10.2

15.1

7.2

2,278,348

1910

54.0

9.6

8.6

27.9

10.3

2,942,436

Province of
Westphalia

1871

51.2

27.8

13.0

8.0

1,775,175

1890

36.7

22.6

24.9

15.8

2,428,661

1910

19.7

16.8

23.8

39.6

12.6

4,125,096

Province of
Hesse-
Nassau

1871

70.2

10.7

15.3

13.8

1,400,370

1890

58.8

12.4

8.2

20.6

10.8

1,664,439

1910

46.0

11.2

7.6

35.1

30.5

2,221,021

Province of
the Rhineland

1871

42.7

18.4

19.8

19.1

3.6

3,579,347

1890

32.5

15.2

19.8

32.5

18.6

4,710,391

1910

20.7

11.7

17.7

49.8

32.9

7,121,140

Kingdom of
Prussia
(overall)

1871

62.8

12.3

11.9

13.0

5.2

24,691,085

1890

51.6

11.6

13.9

22.9

13.3

29,957,367

1910

38.4

10.2

14.1

37.1

22.4

40,165,219

Kingdom of
Bavaria

1871

76.4

7.7

7.2

8.7

3.5

4,863,485

1890

68.2

8.0

7.9

15.9

8.8

5,594,982

1910

55.3

10.3

8.7

25.8

15.0

6,887,291

Kingdom of
Saxony

1871

62.1

7.7

12.7

17.5

11.1

2,556,244

1890

37.1

15.2

20.0

27.7

20.3

3,502,684

1910

27.0

12.6

21.0

39.3

32.2

4,806,661

Württemberg

1871

69.3

14.2

10.0

6.5

1,818,539

1890

61.2

15.4

11.2

12.2

6.9

2,036,522

1910

50.0

14.4

14.6

21.1

11.7

2,437,574

Baden

1871

67.5

17.1

8.5

6.9

1,461,539

1890

57.4

18.7

8.0

15.9

1,657,867

1910

42.4

19.7

10.5

27.3

15.3

2,142,833

Hesse

18752

61.4

17.8

7.3

13.5

884,218

1890

992,883

1910

39.4

18.6

14.6

27.4

8.6

1,282,051

Mecklenburg-
Schwerin

18752

61.7

17.0

10.1

11.2

553,785

1890

578,342

1910

52.4

15.0

11.8

20.7

0.0

639,958

Hamburg

1871

6.4

9.0

16.5

68.1

338,974

1890

622,530

1910

1.8

2.4

4.0

91.8

91.8

1,014,664

Alsace-
Lorraine

18752

62.9

13.9

8.6

14.5

1,531,801

1890

1,603,506

1910

46.8

14.6

17.9

20.6

9.5

1,874,014

German
Reich

1871

63.9

12.4

11.2

12.5

4.8

41,058,804

1890

53.0

12.0

13.1

21.9

12.1

49,428,470

1910

40.0

11.2

14.1

34.7

21.3

64,925,993

1 Cumulative value for towns with 5,000 to 19,999 people and 20,000 and more.

2 A minimal margin of error must be tolerated regarding the figures for 1875, since the size categories were defined differently than in the table: 2,000 and fewer; 2,001–5,000; 5,001–20,000; and more than 20,000.

Source: The table was compiled from statistics in the following: Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich 1915, pp. 4–5 (for the year 1910); 1880, pp. 6–7 (for the year 1875), and Richard Tilly, “Popular Disorders in Nineteenth Century Germany: Preliminary Survey,” in Journal of Social History (Fall 1970), pp. 1–40. Table reprinted in Gerd Hohorst, Jürgen Kocka, and Gerhard A. Ritter, Sozialgeschichtliches Arbeitsbuch II. 2nd ed. Munich: Beck, 1978, pp. 42-44.

Translation: Erwin Fink