WORLD WIDE

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 75, 29 March 1934, Page 9

WORLD WIDE

POPULATION CHANGES

GROWING CAPITAL CITIES

LONDON'S INCREASE

One of the most important consequences of the world depression has been to bring almost to a standstill the flow of migration across national boundaries, except possibly in the Par East. In. many countries, including Britain, the direction of ilow has actually been reversed, and for three years now the number of migrants returning home each year has considerably exceeded the number of those leaving these shores, writes Colin Clark in the "Manchester Guardian." But during recent years, while a population wishing to> cross national frontiers has had obstacles put in its way, as they are put in the way of trade, o£ capital, and of everything else, there have been in many countries quite startling internal movements of population. The most striking feature of internal migration in nearly all European countries in the last ten years or so has; been the tendency to crowd in on the capital cities. In Great Britain in the decade 1921 to 1931 there was a net migration of 210,000 people into Greater Uondon—that is, the Metropolitan .Police district, defined as the parishes lying within fifteen miles of Charing Cross. Greater.London.during the same period contributed a -natural increase of population of 456,000. The south-eastern counties, denned :as.,tlre rough, square whose corners,are..Essex, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, and Kent; including the Greater London area comprised in '•their midst, attracted a net immigration of no fewer than 615,000 persons and had a natural increase of 613,000. MOVING AROUND. What'is perhaps more interesting is' not so much the size of this, migration as the fact that there is no other region of the British Isles which is gaining population by migration except the south-western counties (Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall). This represents almost entirely residential development, and these counties are being increasingly peopled by our growing army of pensioners, as is shown by. the exceptionally low birthrate in this area. Every other area is losing population -by migration: in Ireland, Scotland, "Wales, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cumberland the' population is actually declining, while other areas are_ all contributing part of their natural, increase to swell the southeast. This migration is least from the Midlands and Yorkshire and greatest from Wales and Scotland. In France there has been a. great concentration on Paris. The population of the Seine Department has increased by nearly 50 per cent, in ten years, while a considerable belt of western and central France is being depopulated. Other areas .to show an. increase are the south coast, Lorraine, and the industrial area of the north. But these latter increases Jnay largely represent immigrant population. ■■:•"; OUTSTANDING. In.ltaly and Spain there have been considerable, general increases in population,,but the increases in or near the capitals stand out. lii all the three Scandinavian -. countries there- have been considerable increases in the population of the capitals, at the cost of some rural depopulation iii Norway and.. Sweden, (not in Denmark, where there has been a. considerable increase in population in. all areas). In both Norway and Sweden there has teen an increase in population in the far north, accompanying the development of mineral and timber resources in hitherto barren country. In Germany the ayailable migration figures relate to the eight-year period, 1925-33. Over this period there was a moderate- net outward balance of emigration over immigration, totalling 264,000 persons in eight years. By far the biggest of the internal migrations was the net migration, into Berlin, totalling 271,000, with a further net inflow of 85,000 into the registration district of Potsdani, which includes all the country immediately surrounding Berlin.. Besides Berlin most of the other larger .centres of population! attracted a further inflow of popula- j tion... The net movements were: —Into.) Hamburg, 46,000; Cologne, 36,000; Munich, 34,000; and Bremen, 20,000. Saxony attracted an inward migration of 42,000. There were no other sig-l nificant increases. ' The biggest outward movements of population arc from East Prussia and Pomerania, amounting to 4.2 and 3.9 per cent, of their populations respectively in eight years. The rest of Germany, including Bavaria, shows j fairly uniform . migration losses, the largest, after those imentioned, being in Silesia and 'Westphalia. ■' , NATURAL INCREASE. At the same time it must be admitted that much the highest 'rate- of j natural increase in Germany is shown in these impoverished eastern areas, j and the rate of loss of population by! migration in. the different districts is closely related to-their differing rates of natural increase. Tor East Prussia, Pomorania, and Silesia the natural increase averages one per, cent, per annum—a high rate for the modern world. A similar rate of natural increase is shown in "Westphalia, and Oldenburg. Even in these areas, however, the birth-rate is falling; But the most startling feature of German population statistics is the fact that, for several years the deaths in Berlin have actually exceeded the births, aid a considerable part of the migration of population into Berlin is required to make up this "natural i decrease." The birth-rate in Berlin In'j 1932 was 5.4 per 1006, the lowest recorded anywhere in the world; and the death-rate 11.3. In no other, area j in Germany do the deaths actually) exceed the births, though in Hamburg they come very close to doing so. The death-rate there is 11.0 and the birthrate 11.2. In Great Britain the difference iiv the birth-rate and the rate of natural increase between different parts of the country is not so striking. The birthrate in Greater London is slightly, but not seriously, below the average- for Great Britain. The highest birth-rates are in Scotland, Durham and Northumberland, and South Wales, and the lowest^in the south-west with its large number of retired people. The rate is slightly above the average in Yorkshire and the Midlands. The deathrate is practically uniform throughout the country.