Abstract

German cities experienced enormous growth during the Wilhelmine period. The population of Berlin, for example, doubled during this time. Likewise, many other cities doubled or even tripled in size. In addition to reflecting an astounding rate of growth, these population figures document one significant effect of German industrialization: migration from the countryside to the city, where people hoped to find new work.

Population Growth in Large Cities (1875–1910)

Source

The Growth of Major German Cities[1] (Cities with a Population Greater than 200,000 in 1910)

				1875-1910	1875-1890	1890-1910
	Population in			Population growth rate in %
	1875	1890	1910
Berlin	966,859	1,587,794	2,071,257	114.2	64.2	30.4
Bremen	102,532	125,684	217,437	112.1	22.6	73.0
Breslau	239,050	335,186	512,105	114.2	40.2	52.8
Charlottenburg	25,847	76,859	305,978	1 083.8	197.4	298.1
Chemnitz	78,209	138,954	287,807	268.0	77.7	107.1
Cologne	135,371	281,681	516,527	281.6	108.1	83.4
Dortmund	57,742	89,663	214,226	271.0	55.3	138.9
Dresden	197,295	276,522	548,308	177.9	40.2	98.3
Düsseldorf	80,695	144,642	358,728	344.5	79.2	148.0
Duisburg	37,380	59,285	229,438	513.8	58.6	287.0
Essen/Ruhr	54,790	78,706	294,653	437.8	43.7	274.4
Frankfurt/M.	103,136	179,985	414,576	302.0	74.5	130.3
Hamburg	264,675	323,923	931,035	251.8	22.4	187.4
Hannover	106,677	163,593	302,375	183.4	53.4	84.8
Kiel	37,246	69,172	211,627	468.2	85.7	205.9
Königsberg	122,636	161,666	245,994	100.6	31.8	52.2
Leipzig	127,387	295,025	589,850	363.0	131.6	99.9
Magdeburg	87,925	202,234	279,629	218.0	130.0	38.3
Munich	193,024	349,024	596,467	209.0	80.8	70.9
Nuremberg	91,018	142,590	333,142	266.0	56.7	133.6
Stettin	80,972	116,228	236,113	191.6	43.5	103.1
Stuttgart	107,273	139,817	286,218	166.8	30.3	104.7
Number of cities with more than 10,000 residents	271	394	576	112.5	45.4	46.2

Notes

[1] The selection criterion of more than 200,000 inhabitants does not accord with the definition of a large city at the time, which included all cities with a population exceeding 100,000.

Source of statistical information: Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich; 1881, pp. 3 ff. (for 1875); 1893, pp. 9 ff. (for 1890); 1914, pp. 12 ff. (for 1910); reprinted in Gerd Hohorst, Jürgen Kocka, and Gerhard Ritter, eds. Sozialgeschichtliches Arbeitsbuch: Materialien zur Statistik des Kaiserreichs 1870–1914. Munich: C.H. Beck, 1975, vol. 2, pp. 45–46.

Translation: Thomas Dunlap

Recommended Citation

Population Growth in Large Cities (1875–1910), published in: German History in Documents and Images, <https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/wilhelmine-germany-and-the-first-world-war-1890-1918/ghdi:document-644> [September 26, 2025].