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Abstract

Up to 1871, Germany had been primarily agricultural. By the 1890s, however, the rise of cities and industrial production had begun to reshape German ways of life. The population grew by more than a third between 1871 and 1911, and more Germans lived in urban areas, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the population. Berlin, by far the country’s largest city and a major industrial center, experienced a 150.7% growth in population between 1871 and 1910, indicative of changing population patterns. Hamburg’s annual growth rate for this period exceeded that of all other German cities. Many smaller cities – especially in industrial areas such as the Ruhr region (Westphalia), the upper Rhine Valley, the Neckar Valley, and Saxony – tripled or quadrupled in size during this time.

Population Redistribution (1871 and 1910)

Source

Population of States and Provinces in 1871 and 1910 (shown in thousands)

States/Provinces

1871

1910

Growth
in %

Average Annual Rate of Growth in %

East Prussia

1,823

2,064

13.2

3.2

West Prussia

1,315

1,703

29.5

6.7

City of Berlin

826

2,071

150.7

23.8

Brandenburg

2,037

4,093

100.9

18.1

Pomerania

1,432

1,717

19.9

4.7

Posen

1,584

2,100

32.6

7.2

Silesia

3,707

5,226

41.0

8.8

Saxony

2,103

3,089

46.9

9.9

Schleswig-Holstein

1,045

1,621

55.1

11.3

Hanover

1,961

2,942

50.0

10.5

Westphalia

1,775

4,125

132.4

21.9

Hesse-Nassau

1,400

2,221

58.6

11.9

Rhine Province

3,579

7,121

99.0

17.8

Hohenzollern

66

71

7.6

2.0

Prussia

24,689

40,165

62.7

12.6

Bayern r. d. Rheins

4,237

5,950

40.4

8.7

Pfalz

615

937

52.4

10.9

Coburg (1920)

52

75

44.2

9.4

Bavaria

4,915

6,962

41.6

9.0

Saxony

2,556

4,807

88.1

15.2

Württemberg

1,819

2,438

34.0

7.6

Baden

1,462

2,143

46.6

9.9

Thuringian Lands (without Coburg)

1,016

1,511

48.7

10.2

Hesse

853

1,282

50.3

10.5

Hamburg

339

1,015

199.4

28.4

Mecklenburg-Schwerin

558

640

14.7

3.5

Oldenburg

317

483

52.4

10.9

Braunschweig [Brunswick]

312

494

58.3

11.9

Anhalt

203

331

63.1

12.6

Bremen

122

300

145.9

23.2

Lippe-Detmold

111

151

36.0

7.9

Lübeck

52

117

125.0

20.8

Mecklenburg-Strelitz

97

106

9.3

2.3

Waldeck

56

62

10.7

2.4

Schaumburg-Lippe

32

46

43.8

9.3

Alsace-Lorraine

1,550

1,874

20.9

4.9

German Reich

41,059

64,926

58.1

11.8

Source: Hermann Aubin and Wolfgang Zorn, eds., Handbuch der deutschen Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte. Stuttgart, 1971–76, vol. 2, p. 18.