30: Population
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A. AUSTRIA
ACCORDING to the
preliminary results of the census taken on 31st of December 1910 Austria had a population
of 28,567,898 inhabitants, showing an increase of 2,417,190 or 9.2 % over that of 1900.
Every province shared in the increase, the populations in 1910 being respectively as
follows: Lower Austria, 3,530,698; Upper Austria, 852,667; Salzburg, 214,997; Styria,
1,441,604; Carinthia, 394,735; Carniola, 525,083; Coastland, 894,457; Tirol and
Vorarlberg, 1,092,292; Bohemia, 6,774,309; Moravia, 2,620,914; Silesia, 756,590; Galicia,
8,022,126; Bukowina, 801,364; and Dalmatia, 646,062. The principal feature revealed by the
new census is again the steady decrease of the rural population and the massing of the
inhabitants in great towns. Thus, 14,130,291 or 49.5 % of the total population were living
in places with less than 2000 inhabitants, while in 1900 the proportion of the rural
population was 53.6%.
The number of emigrants between 1901-10 was 1,114,547; during the
decade there was a net loss of 660,575 persons.
The census figures gave the population of the principal towns as
follows: Vienna, 2,031,498; Trieste, 229,475; Prague, 224,721; Lemberg, 206,574; Graz,
151,668; Cracow, 150,318; Brünn, 125,008; Czernowitz, 86,870; Pilsen, 81,165; Zizkow,
72,195; Pola, 70,145; Linz, 67,859; Przemysl, 54,069; Innsbruck, 53,194; Smichow, 51,815;
Salzburg, 36,210; Wiener-Neustadt, 32,869; Reichenberg, 36,372. Birth rate (1910) 33.4 per
thousand; death-rate 21.2; marriage rate 7.6.
On 31st of December 1910, Bosnia-Herzegovina had a census
population of 1,898,044, an increase of 329,952 or 21.04 % over 1895. In 1910 there were
77,176 births, and 51,834 deaths. The population of the principal towns was: Serajevo,
51,872; Mostar, 16,385; Banjaluka, 14,793; Tuzla, 11,333 and Bjelina, 10,069.
Races. - From an ethnographical point of view Austria
contains a diversity of races; in fact no other European state contains within its borders
so many nationalities as the Austrian empire. The three principal races of Europe - the
Latin, the Teutonic and the Slavonic - are all represented in Austria. The Slavonic race,
numbering 15,690,000, is numerically the principal race in Austria, but as it is divided
into a number of peoples, differing from one another in language, religion, culture,
customs and historical traditions, it does not possess a national unity. Besides, these
various nationalities are geographically separated from one another by other races, and
are divided into two groups. The northern group includes the Czechs, the Moravians, the
Slovaks, the Ruthenians and the Poles; while the southern group contains the Slovenes, the
Servians and the Croats. Just as their historical traditions are different, so are also
the aspirations of these various peoples of the Slavonic race different, and the rivalries
between them, as for instance between the Poles and the Ruthenians, have prevented them
from enjoying the full political advantage due to their number. The Germans, numbering
9,171,614, constitute the most numerous nationality in Austria, and have played and still
play the principal role in the political life of the country. The Germans are in a
relative majority over the other peoples in the empire, their language is the vehicle of
communication between all the other peoples both in official life and in the press; they
are in a relatively more advanced state of culture, and they are spread over every part of
the empire. Historically they have contributed most to the foundation and to the
development of the Austrian monarchy, and think that for all the above-mentioned reasons
they are entitled to the principal position amongst the various nationalities of Austria.
The Latin race is represented by the Italians, Ladini and Rumanians.
The following table gives the numbers of different nationalities,
as determined by the languages spoken by them in 1900: -
Germans 9,171,614
Czechs and Slovaks 5,955,397
Poles 4,252,483
Ruthenians 3,381,570
Slovenes 1,192,780
Italians and Ladini 727,102
Servians and Croats 711,380
Rumanians 230,963
Magyars 9,516
The Germans occupy exclusively Upper Austria, Salzburg, Vorarlberg,
and, to a large extent, Lower Austria; then the north and central part of Styria, the
north and western part of Carinthia, and the north and central part of Tirol. In Bohemia
they are concentrated round the borders, in the vicinity of the mountains, and they form
nearly half the population of Silesia; besides, they are found in every part of the
monarchy. The Czechs occupy the central and eastern parts of Bohemia, the greatest part of
Moravia and a part of Silesia. The Poles are concentrated in western Galicia, and in a
part of Silesia; the Ruthenians in eastern Galicia and a part of Bukovina; the Slovenes in
Carniola, Görz and Gradisca, Istria, the south of Styria, and the Trieste territory. The
Servians and Croats are found in Istria and Dalmatia; the Italians and Ladini in southern
Tirol, Görz and Gradisca, Trieste, the coast of Istria, and in the towns of Dalmatia;
while the Rumanians live mostly in Bukovina.
B. HUNGARY
Population. - According to the census taken on December 31,
1910, Hungary had a population of 20,886,487, an increase of 1,631,928 or 8.5 per cent
over 1900. In 1910 there were 742,899 births, 490,689 deaths and 179,537 marriages.
Emigration is decreasing: (1909) 113,315, (1910) 96,324, (1911) 54,173. Allowing for the
number who returned the net loss was (1909) 96,330, (1910) 71,602, (1911) 23,809.
The census figures for the principal towns were: Budapest, 880,371;
Szeged, 118,328; Szabadka, 94,610; Debreczen, 92,729; Pressburg, 78,223; Zágráb, 79,038;
Temesvár, 72,555; Kecskemét, 66,834; Arad, 63,166; Hódmezõ-Vásárhely, 62,445;
Nagyvárad, 64,169; Kolozsvár, 60,808; Pécs, 49,822; Újpest, 55,197; Miskolcz, 51,459;
Fiume, 49,806; Kassa, 44,211; Békéscsaba, 42,599; Gyõr, 44,300; and Brassó, 41,056.
From 1870 to 1880 there was little increase of population, owing to
the great cholera epidemic of 1872-1873, and to many epidemic diseases among children
towards the end of the period. More normal conditions having prevailed from 1880 to 1890,
the yearly increase rose from 0.13 % to 1.09 %, declining in the decade 1890-1900 to 1.03.
If compared with the first general census of the country, decreed
by Joseph II. in 1785, the population of the kingdom shows an increase of nearly 108 %
during these 116 years. Recent historical research has ascertained that the country was
densely peopled in the 15th century. Estimates, based on a census of the tax-paying
peasantry in the years 1494 and 1495, give five millions of inhabitants, a very
respectable number, which explains fully the predominant position of Hungary in the east
of Europe at that epoch. The disastrous invasion of the Turks, incessant civil wars and
devastation by foreign armies and pestilence, caused a very heavy loss both of population
and of prosperity. In 1715 and 1720, when the land was again free from Turkish hordes and
peace was restored, the population did not exceed three millions. Then immigration began
to fill the deserted plains once more, and by 1785 the population had trebled itself. But
as the immigrants were of very different foreign nationalities, the country became a
collection of heterogeneous ethnical elements, amid which the ruling Magyar race formed
only a minority.
The most serious drain on the population is caused by emigration,
due partly to the grinding poverty of the mass of the peasants, partly to the resentment
of the subject races against the process of "Magyarization" to which they have
long been subjected by the government. This movement reached its height in 1900, when
178,170 people left the country; in 1906 the number had sunk to 169,202, of whom 47,920
were women.¹ Altogether, since 1896 Hungary has lost about a million of its
inhabitants through this cause, a serious source of weakness in a sparsely populated
country; in 1907 an attempt was made by the Hungarian parliament to restrict emigration by
law. The flow of emigration is mainly to the United States, and a certain number of the
emigrants return (27,612 in
¹ In 1911 the emigration figures had sunk to 54,173.
1906) bringing with them much wealth, and Americanized views which
have a considerable effect on the political situation. Of political importance also is the
steady immigration of Magyar peasants and workmen into Croatia-Slavonia, where they become
rapidly absorbed into the Croat population. From the Transylvanian counties there is an
emigration to Rumania and the Balkan territories of 4000 or 5000 persons yearly.
This great emigration movement is the more serious in view of the
very slow increase of the population through excess of births over deaths. The birth-rate
is indeed high (40.2 in 1897), but with the spread of culture it is tending to decline
(38.4 in 1902), and its effect is counteracted largely by the appalling death-rate, which
exceeds that of any other European country except Russia.
In this respect, however, matters are improving, the death-rate
sinking from 33.1 per thousand in 1881-1885 to 28.1 per thousand in 1896-1900. The
improvement, which is mainly due to better sanitation and the draining of the pestilential
marshes, is most conspicuous in the case of Hungary proper, which shows the following
figures: 33.3 per thousand in 1881-1885, and 27.8 per thousand in 1896-1900.
Races. - One of the prominent features of Hungary being the
great complexity of the races residing in it, the census returns of 1880, 1890 and 1900,
exhibiting the numerical strength of the different nationalities, are of great interest.
Classifying the population according to the mother-tongue of each individual, there were,
in the civil population of Hungary proper, including Fiume:
| Census. |
Hungarians
(Magyars). |
Germans
(Német). |
Slovaks
(Tót). |
Rumanians
(Oláh). |
Ruthenian
(Ruthén). |
Croatians
(Horvát). |
Servians
(Szerb). |
Others. |
| 1880 |
6,404,070 |
1,870,772 |
1,855,451 |
2,403,041 |
353,229 |
639,986 |
223,054 |
| 1890 |
7,357,936 |
1,990,084 |
1,896,665 |
2,589,079 |
379,786 |
194,412 |
495,133 |
259,893 |
| 1900 |
8,588,834 |
1,980,423 |
1,991,402 |
2,784,726 |
423,159 |
188,552 |
434,641 |
329,837 |
| i.e., in percentages of the
total population: |
| 1880 |
46.58 |
13.61 |
13.49 |
17.48 |
2.57 |
4.65 |
1.62 |
| 1890 |
48.53 |
13.12 |
12.51 |
17.08 |
2.50 |
1.28 |
3.27 |
1.71 |
| 1900 |
51.38 |
11.88 |
11.88 |
16.62 |
2.52 |
1.17 |
2.60 |
1.95 |
The censuses show a decided tendency of change in favour of the
dominating nationality the Magyar, which reached an absolute majority in the decade
1890-1900. This is also shown by the data relating to the percentage of members of other
Hungarian races speaking this language. Thus in 1900 out of a total civil population of
8,132,740, whose mother- tongue is not Magyar, 1,365,764 could speak Magyar. This
represents a percentage of 16.8 while in 1890 the percentage was only 13.8. In
Croatia-Slavonia the language of instruction and administration being exclusively Croat,
the other races tend to be absorbed in this nationality. The Magyars formed but 3.8 %, the
Germans 5.6 % of the population according to the census of 1900.
The various races of Hungary are distributed either in compact
ethnographical groups in larger or smaller colonies surrounded by other nationalities or
e.g., in the Bánát - so intermingled as to defy exact definition. The Magyars occupy
almost exclusively the great central plain intersected by the Danube and the Theiss, being
in an overwhelming majority in 19 counties (99.7 % in Hajdú, east of the Theiss). With
these may be grouped the kindred population of the three Székely counties of
Transylvania. In 14 other counties, on the linguistic frontier, they are either in a small
majority or a considerable minority (61.6 % in Szatmár, 18 9 % in Torontál). The Germans
differ from the other Hungarian races in that, save in the counties on the borders of
Lower Austria and Styria, where, they form a compact population in touch with their kin
across the frontier, they are scattered in racial islets throughout the country. Excluding
the above counties these settlements form three groups: (1) central and northern Hungary,
where they form considerable minorities in seven counties (25 % in Szepes, 7 % in
Komárom); (2) the Swabians of southern Hungary also fairly numerous in seven counties
(35.5 % in Baranya, 32.9 % in Temes, 10.5 % in Arad) ; (3) the Saxons of Transylvania, in
a considerable minority in five counties (42.7 % in Nagy Küküllõ 16, 17.6 % in Kis
Küküllõ). The Germans are most numerous in the towns, and tend to become absorbed in
the Magyar population. The Slavs, the most numerous race after the Magyars, are divided
into several groups: the Slovaks, mainly massed in the mountainous districts of northern
Hungary; the Ruthenians, established mainly on the slopes of the Carpathians between
Poprád and Máramaros Sziget; the Serbs, settled in the south of Hungary from the bend of
the Danube eastwards across the Theiss into the Bánát; the Croats, overwhelmingly
preponderant in Croatia-Slavonia, with outlying settlements in the counties of Zala, Vas
and Sopron along the Croatian and Styrian frontier. Of these the Slovaks are the most
important, having an overwhelming majority in seven counties (94.7 % in Árva, 66.1 % in
Sáros), a bare majority in three (Szepes, Bars and Poszody) and a considerable minority
in five (40.6 % in Gömör, 22.9 % in Abaúj-Torna) . The Ruthenians are not in a majority
in any county, but in four they form a minority of from 36 to 46 % (Máramaros, Bereg,
Ugocsa, Ung) and in three others (Sáros, Zemplén, Szepes) a minority of from 8.2 to 19.7
%. The Serbs form considerable minorities in the counties of Torontál (31.2 %),
Bács-Bodrog (19.0 %) and Temes (21.4 %). Next to the Slav races in importance are the
Rumanians (Vlachs), who are in an immense majority in ten of the eastern and south-eastern
counties (90.2 % in Fogaras), in eight others form from 30 to 60 % of the population, and
in two (Máramaros and Torontál) a respectable minority.
The Jews in 1900 numbered 851,378, not counting the very great
number who have become Christians, who are reckoned as Magyars. Their importance is out of
all proportion to their number, since they monopolize a large portion of the trade, are
with the Germans the chief employers of labour, and control not only the finances but to a
great extent the government and press of the country. Owing to the improvidence of the
Hungarian land- owners and the poverty of the peasants the soil of the country is also
gradually passing into their hands.
The Gipsies, according to the special census of 1893, numbered
274,940. Of these, however, only 82,000 gave Romany as their language, while 104,000
described themselves as Magyars and 67,000 as Rumanians. They are scattered in small
colonies, especially in Gömör county and in Transylvania. Only some 9000 are still
nomads, while some 20,000 more are semi-nomads. Other races, which are not numerous, are
Armenians, Greeks, Bulgars, Albanians and Italians.
The ethnographical map of Hungary does much to explain the
political problems of the country. The central plains, which have the most fertile soil,
and from the geographical conditions of the country form its centre of gravity, are
occupied almost exclusively by the Magyars, the most numerous and the dominant race. But
all round these, as far as the frontiers, the country is inhabited by the other races,
which, as a rule, occupy it in large compact and uniform ethnographical groups. The only
exception is formed by the Bánát where Magyars, Rumanians, Serbs, Bulgarians, Croats and
Germans live mixed together. Another important fact is that these races are all in direct
contact with kindred peoples living outside Hungary: the Rumanians in Transylvania and
Bánát with those in Rumania and Bukovina; the Serbs and Croats with those on the other
bank of the Danube, the Save and the Unna; the Germans in western Hungary with those in
Upper Austria and Styria the Slovaks in northern Hungary with those in Moravia; and lastly
the Ruthenians with the Ruthenians of Galicia, who occupy the opposite slopes of the
Carpathians. The centrifugal forces within the Hungarian kingdom are thus increased by the
attraction of kindred nationalities established beyond its borders, a fact which is of
special importance in considering the vexed and difficult racial problem in Hungary.
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