Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - II. The Swedish People - 2. Demography. By [G. Sundbärg] E. Arosenius
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
TOWN AND COUNTRY. 119
Table 13. Urban and Rural Population.
At the end of the years The whole population Of this : Urban pop. in % Years Total Rural
population Urban
population
Rural population Urban population
1800 .... 2 347 303 2117 870 229 433 9.77 Annual increase, 0/00
1820 .... 2 584 690 2 330 798 253 892 9.82 1801-20 . . 4-83 4-80 508
1840 .... 3 138 887 2 835 5204 303 683 9-67 1821-40 . . 9-75 9-84 8-99
1860 .... 3 859 728 3 425 209 434 519 11-26 1841-60 . . 10-39 9-50 18’07
1880 .... 4 565 668 3 875 237 690 431 15-12 1861—80 . . 8-43 6-19 23-42
1900 .... 5 136 441 4 032 490 1 103 951 21-49 1881—00 . . 5-91 1-99 23-74
1913 .... 5 638 583 4 152 743 1485 840 26-35 1901—13 . . 7-20 2-26 23-12
Meanwhile, it may be observed that if instead of being bound by legal
distinctions between town and country, one counts as towns all
well-populated places of at least 2 000 inh., the entire town population probably
rises to about 1 685 000, corresponding as nearly as may be to 30 % of
the population.
AVe have no statistics of the populations of our towns of an earlier date
than 1800. Table 13 shows the development since that date.
The urban population during the 19th century increased from scarcely
10 % of the whole population to more than 21 %. This advance,
however, does not begin until the decade beginning 1841, after the abolition
of the old guild corporations (1846); since then the population of the towns
of Sweden has increased at an unusually rapid rate, far quicker than in
Western Europe generally; during quite recent times, since the end of
the last centum or somewhat later, the increase of urban population, in
spite of important incorporations, has gone on somewhat slower, that of
rural districts somewhat faster than during the few previous decades.
This is chiefly due to the fact already pointed out, that by the side of the
old, legally acknowledged towns, new places similar to towns arose,
sometimes as suburbs, but often enough as new independent town organizations,
or the beginnings of them. The next generation, therefore, will see, in
all probability, a great increase in the urban population of Sweden.
At the close of the year 1913, Sweden possessed 2 towns of over
100 000 inhabitants; 1 of more than 50 000 but less than 100 000; 12 of
between 20 000 and 50 000 souls; and 15 with a population varying
between 10 000 and 20 000. The number of the inhabitants in each of
the towns at the beginning and middle of the last century and according
to the latest returns (end of 1913) may be seen from Table 14.
Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, is the principal manufacturing and
import-town of the country. It is located at the point where the waters
of Lake Mälaren flow into the Baltic, that is, at the entrance to the
extensive low-lands of Central Sweden. This location of the capital of the
kingdom was a most natural one in former days, when the Baltic was the chief
scene of Sweden’s peaceful or warlike undertakings, and at a time when
the greater part of the coasts of the same sea were Swedish possessions.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
