The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815–1914 (The Penguin History of Europe Book 7)

by Richard J. Evans

Altogether over a quarter of the natural increase in population in western Europe between 1841 and 1915 was absorbed by emigration, with a net population loss of 35 million people. As a result, the world balance of population was beginning to change. At mid-century the population of the USA was not much larger than that of Britain, the same as that of France, and a little less than the area covered by the future German Empire. By the eve of the First World War the USA was well ahead, with a total population of more than 92 million. Yet Europe’s share of world population actually increased over most of this period, from 22 per cent in 1850 to around 25 per cent in 1900 (for comparison, its share by the early twenty-first century was around 10 per cent). Overall the population of Europe increased from 188 million in 1800 to 458 million in 1914, and this increase formed the major driving force behind the massive emigration waves of the century.