African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1064 Population and Cities

In 1909, the once-in-a-decade census in East Africa was carried out again, and the experienced East African governments quickly obtained approximate population data.

The data that East African governments pay more attention to are the latest national population, current urbanization level, urban population size, etc.

Although East Africa's industry developed rapidly during the First Five-Year Plan, there were no detailed statistical data on East Africa at that time, which makes the current level of urbanization in East Africa shrouded in mystery.

For example, in 1905 the East African government estimated that the urbanization rate was about percent. However, this is only a guess. With the launch of a large-scale census in East Africa, we will be able to have a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of the national development of East Africa in the past decade.

This census is still led by the East African Statistics Department, covering both rural and urban areas, including special systems and departments such as the military.

Luo Song, Director of the National Statistics Bureau of the Rhine Empire: "As of October 1909, 10, the total population of our country was 11 million, exceeding 11236 million for the first time, firmly sitting on the fourth most populous country in the world, only after the Far Eastern Empire, Britain, and Russia, and ahead of the United States and France."

This data obviously also includes the colonial population of other countries. The population of Britain and its colonies exceeds 400 million, with India alone exceeding 200 million, and the population of France and its colonies approaching 100 million.

The population of France has still not exceeded 19 million. It should be noted that as early as the beginning of the th century, the population of France exceeded million, which was higher than that of Germany, which had not yet been unified at that time. Excluding colonial factors, the population of France at that time was only behind the Far Eastern Empire, Russia and India.

Even in the mid-19th century, the population of France was still higher than that of Germany. At that time, the population of France was about 1910 million, while that of Germany was about million. In , the population of France was about million, close to million, while that of Germany had exceeded million. Even the population of the United Kingdom surpassed that of France by a slight margin.

In recent decades, France's population has grown by less than four million, and the slow population growth is also the main reason why France's industrial development is severely restricted. The most direct manifestation is that French cities cannot obtain a large number of domestic labor. In contrast, Germany has not only stimulated its own industrial development through the dividends brought by population growth, but also the spillover population has made great contributions to East Africa, the United States, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Argentina and other countries.

In the past decade, the U.S. population has grown at an exaggerated rate, from more than 70 million to more than 90 million. In addition to the natural growth of the native population, the United States has regained the title of the world's largest immigration destination from East Africa. This decade also happens to be a peak period for the U.S. newborn population. With the support of high fertility rates and immigration, the U.S. population growth can be said to be no less than that of East Africa. The number of new population in the past decade alone is almost equivalent to half of the United States.

As for Russia, its performance remains stable. According to the forecast of the East African government, Russia's population may have exceeded 150 million.

"As of this year, my country's urbanization rate has reached 28.7 percent, and the national urban population has exceeded 30 million, once again taking a solid step forward in urbanization."

Before the First Five-Year Plan, the urbanization level in East Africa was around 23 percent. By the time the Second Five-Year Plan was completed, the urbanization level in East Africa had increased by about five percentage points.

This result is quite outstanding. During the first two five-year plans of the Soviet Union, the urbanization level increased by about 10%, although East Africa only reached half of that of the Soviet Union.

But the main reason is that the East African Five-Year Plan formulation strategy is different from that of the Soviet Union. The East African Five-Year Plan pays more attention to stability, while the Soviet Union’s first two Five-Year Plans were more radical in comparison. Therefore, it is normal that the Soviet Union concentrated the national strength to develop industry intensively in a short period of time and the results were higher than those in East Africa.

Furthermore, the two countries faced different national conditions at the beginning of the Five-Year Plan. During the Tsarist Russia period, Russia's urbanization rate only reached a maximum of about 18%, while East Africa had reached 23% before the First Five-Year Plan.

During the Soviet period, due to the turbulent domestic situation and the serious negative impact of the war on the early regime, the urbanization level did not increase but decreased, even to less than 16%. It was not until the Soviet Union launched its five-year plan that the urbanization level recovered to 18%, which was Russia's pre-war level.

The low level of urbanization has made the Soviet Union's five-year plan more effective to a certain extent. It is like an exam, where low-scoring candidates have a lot of room for improvement and great potential. This is not the case in East Africa, where industrial development is continuous. In fact, the initial exploration of the five-year plan was launched in the 20s, and it was more handy in the th century, and was less affected by external factors.

In addition to invasions from other countries, this external factor also includes the influence of the world market. When the Soviet Union implemented its five-year plan, capitalist countries were experiencing a great economic depression, but East Africa did not have such an opportunity. Therefore, the development of East Africa's industrial plan was relatively conventional compared to that of the Soviet Union.

Luo Song went on to say: "The city's population has continued to grow over the past decade, and its population size has nearly doubled from more than 10 million."

Before the First Five-Year Plan, the urban population of East Africa was about 18 million. By the end of the Second Five-Year Plan, the industrial population of East Africa had increased to more than 30 million. In addition to the improvement in the level of urbanization, the growth of the national population in East Africa is also a factor that cannot be ignored.

In 1900, the population of East Africa was only over million, but now it has exceeded million. If the urbanization rate remains unchanged, the urban population in East Africa will also increase significantly. Therefore, the growth of urban population in East Africa is closely related to the country's industrial development policies. Without good policy guidance, population growth may even become a burden on industrial development.

"As of October this year, there are 63 cities in my country with a population of over 100,000. Among them, Dar es Salaam has a population of over one million for the first time, and Mombasa's population has increased to 900,000. At the same time, there are 12 cities with a population of over 500,000."

The speed of urban development in East Africa is relatively rapid. Although there is only one city in East Africa with a population of over one million, and it has just exceeded one million, it is still not very prominent compared with other countries. However, there are many medium-sized cities in East Africa with a population of over 500,000, and there are also many cities with a population of over 100,000.

During the same period, there were more than 40 cities in Germany with a population of over 100,000, and Berlin had a population of nearly three million, with an urbanization level of over 60%.

This also shows the gap between East Africa's industry and Germany today. East Africa's population is nearly twice that of Germany, but the urban population has only reached the level of Germany in the late last century.

"my country's medium and large cities are mainly concentrated in the east and west coastal areas and the central region. The urban population growth rate in the western region and Mozambique is the fastest, while the urban population growth in other regions is relatively slow."

The industrial and transportation layout has led to relatively balanced urban development in East Africa, which is particularly conducive to the development of emerging cities such as Beira, Cabinda, Luanda and the East African capital Rhine.

This has also led East Africa's policies to tilt towards these regions. Otherwise, the population of old cities like Dar es Salaam would have exceeded one million in the last century.

There is still a lot of room for improvement in East Africa's urbanization rate. For example, the urbanization rate in the United States is around 50%, nearly 20 percentage points higher than that in East Africa. However, East Africa's urbanization level also exceeds the world average, and it is moving firmly towards becoming an industrialized power.

In addition to their own citizens, the black population data is also of concern to the East African governments. However, with the implementation of two five-year plans, the number of black people in East Africa may once again suffer a huge loss.

As expected, Luo Song said, “As of 1909, there were approximately million illegal workers in our country, most of whom were located in the west, south, and north.”

The black population in East Africa has dropped to tens of millions, which has almost no impact on the population structure of East Africa. Even if there is an East African version of the "emancipation of black slaves" movement at this time, it is impossible to cause an impact on East African society.

(End of this chapter)