African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 1064 Population and Cities

In 1909, East Africa's decennial census was held again, and the experienced East African government quickly obtained approximate population data.

The data that the East African government pays more attention to are the latest total 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 relatively detailed statistical data on East Africa at that time, which makes the current urbanization level in East Africa shrouded in a layer of fog.

For example, in 1905, the East African government speculated that the urbanization rate at that time was about 27%. However, this was just a guess. With the launch of a large-scale census in East Africa, this time we can have a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of the nearly ten years in East Africa. national development in the year.

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 Bureau of Statistics of the Rhine Empire: "As of October 11, 1909, our country's native population totaled 112.36 million, and the population exceeded 100 million for the first time. It firmly ranks as the fourth most populous country in the world, only after the Far Eastern Empire, Britain, and Russia. , ahead of the United States and France.”

This data obviously includes the colonial population of other countries. Among them, Britain and its colonies have a population of more than 400 million, India alone has a population of more than 200 million, and France and its colonies have a population of nearly 100 million.

The population of France has still not exceeded 40 million. You must know that as early as the early 19th century, France's population exceeded 30 million, which was higher than that of Germany, which was not yet unified at the time. Regardless of colonial factors, France's population at that time was only in the Far Eastern Empire, Russia and after India.

Even in the mid-19th century, France's population was still higher than Germany's. At that time, France's population was about 35 million, while Germany's area was almost 27 million. In 1910, France's population was about 39 million, close to 40 million. Germany's population has exceeded 60 million, and even Britain's population exceeds France's by a slight margin.

In recent decades, France's population has grown less than nearly 4 million, and slow population growth is also the main reason why France's industrial development has been severely restricted. The most direct manifestation is that French cities cannot obtain a large number of domestic labor. In contrast, Germany has not only The dividends brought by population growth have stimulated the development of the country's industry. At the same time, the spillover population has also made great contributions to East Africa, the United States, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Argentina and other countries.

In the past ten years, 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 its native population, the United States has regained its title as the world's largest immigrant destination from East Africa. And these ten years happened to be the peak period of the new population in the United States. With the support of high fertility rate and immigration, the population growth of the United States can be said to be no less than that of East Africa. The number of new people in the past ten years alone is almost the same. in most of the United States.

As for Russia, its performance is still stable. According to predictions by the East African government, Russia's population may have exceeded the 150 million mark.

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

Before the First Five-Year Plan, the urbanization level in East Africa was around 23%. When the Second Five-Year Plan was completed, the urbanization level in East Africa had increased by approximately five percentage points.

This achievement is quite outstanding. In the first two five-year plans of the former 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 focuses more on stability, while the Soviet Union's first two Five-Year Plans are more radical in comparison. Therefore, the Soviet Union concentrated its national efforts on high-intensity development in a short period of time. It is normal for industry to be more efficient than East Africa.

Furthermore, the two countries faced different national conditions in the early stages of the Five-Year Plan. During the Tsarist Russia period, urbanization in Russia only reached a peak of about 18%, while East Africa had already reached 23% before the First Five-Year Plan.

During the Soviet Union period, due to the turbulent domestic situation and the war, which had a serious negative impact on the initial regime, the level of urbanization declined instead of increasing, reaching a minimum of less than 16%. By the time the Soviet Union launched its Five-Year Plan, the level of urbanization in the Soviet Union Only then did it return to 18%, which was Russia's pre-war level.

The low level of urbanization made the Soviet Union's five-year plan more effective to a certain extent. Just like an exam, low-scoring candidates have high room for improvement and great potential. This is not the case in East Africa. The industrial development in East Africa has been continuous. In the 1990s, preliminary explorations of the five-year plan were actually launched. It was also more capable in the 20th century and was less affected by external factors.

In addition to the invasion of other countries, this external factor also includes the impact of the world market. The Soviet Union's Five-Year Plan coincided with the Great Depression in the capitalist countries, but East Africa did not have such opportunities, so the development of the East African industrial plan was relatively satisfactory compared to the Soviet Union. .

Luo Song continued: "The urban population has continued to grow in the past ten years, and the 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 increase in the level of urbanization, the national population growth in East Africa was also a factors that cannot be ignored.

In 1900, the population of East Africa was only over 80 million, but now it has exceeded 100 million. If the urbanization rate remains unchanged, the urban population of East Africa will also increase significantly. Therefore, the growth of East Africa's urban population is closely related to the country's industrial development policy. Without good policies, With policy guidance, population growth may even become a burden for industrial development.

“As of October this year, the number of cities in our country with a population of over 100,000 has reached 63. Among them, the population of Dar es Salaam has exceeded one million for the first time, and the population of Mombasa has also increased to 900,000. At the same time, there are 12 cities The city’s population exceeded 500,000.”

East African cities are developing relatively rapidly. Although there is only one city with over one million people in East Africa, and it is just over one million people, it is still not very conspicuous in other countries. However, there are many medium-sized cities in East Africa with a population of more than 500,000, with more than 10 million people. There are many cities with thousands of people.

During the same period, there were more than 40 cities in Germany with a population of more than 100,000. Berlin's population was close to 3 million, and its urbanization level reached over 60%.

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

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

The industrial and transportation layout makes the development of East African cities relatively balanced, which is especially conducive to the development of emerging cities such as Beira, Cabinda, Luanda and the East African capital Rhine.

This has also tilted East African policies toward these regions. Otherwise, the population of established cities such as Dar es Salaam would have exceeded one million in the last century.

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

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

Sure enough, Luo Song said: "As of 1909, the number of illegal workers in our country was about seven million, and most of them were distributed in the west, south and north."

The black population in East Africa has completely dropped by tens of millions, and it has almost no impact on the population structure of East Africa. Even if there is an East African version of the "liberation of black slaves" movement at this time, it is unlikely to have an impact on East African society.

(End of chapter)