Abstract

The population of Germany rose from about 41 million in 1871 to almost 65 million in 1910. Together with rapid urbanization, this increase transformed Germany into a densely populated country by the eve of the First World War. The extent and impact of demographic change, however, varied markedly from region to region. Whereas the rise in population density was modest in northeastern Germany—in provinces such as East Prussia and Pomerania—it was much more dramatic in the industrial regions of the west (e.g., Westphalia and the Rhineland) and in the Kingdom of Saxony. Excluding Berlin and the city-states of Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck, by 1910, Saxony had the highest population density in Germany and one of the highest in all of Europe, with 321 inhabitants per square kilometer—a population density far greater than that of relatively rural Mecklenburg-Schwerin (49/sq km) and Bavaria (91/sq km), and more than 2.5 times the German national average (120/sq km).

Population Density by Federal State and Prussian Province (1871–1910)

Source

Population Density by Federal State and Prussian Province, Inhabitants per square kilometer

Federal States and Prussian Provinces

1871

1890

1910

Province of East Prussia

49.3

53.0

55.8

Province of West Prussia

51.9

56.2

66.7

City of Berlin

13,951.4

24,902.1

32,664.5

Province of Brandenburg

51.1

63.8

102.7

Province of Pomerania

47.5

50.5

57.0

Province of Poznań

54.7

60.5

72.4

Province of Silesia

92.0

104.8

129.6

Province of Saxony

83.3

102.2

122.3

Province of Schleswig-Holstein

55.0

64.5

85.2

Province of Hanover

50.9

59.2

76.4

Province of Westphalia

87.8

120.2

204.0

Province of Hesse-Nassau

89.2

106.1

141.4

Province of the Rhineland

132.6

174.5

263.7

Hohenzollern

57.4

57.9

62.2

Kingdom of Prussia

70.8

86.0

115.2

Kingdom of Bavaria

64.1

73.7

90.8

Kingdom of Saxony

170.5

233.6

320.6

Württemberg

93.2

104.4

125.0

Baden

96.9

109.9

142.2

Hesse

111.0

129.3

166.8

Mecklenburg-Schwerin

42.5

43.9

48.8

Hamburg

816.8

1,504.8

2,447.6

Alsace-Lorraine

106.8

110.5

129.0

German Reich

75.9

91.5

120.0

Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich 1893, p. 1 (1890) and 1912, p. 1; reprinted in Gerd Hohorst, Jürgen Kocka, and Gerhard A. Ritter, Sozialgeschichtliches Arbeitsbuch II. 2nd ed. Munich: Beck, 1978, p. 50.

Translation: Erwin Fink