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HomeCountries of the World › II. Movement of Population

II. Movement of Population

There is no systematic registration of births, deaths, and marriages in the United States as a whole, so that it is not possible to ascertain the growth of population by the excess of births alone. The death-rate is comparatively low; in 1880 the death-rate among the whites was 14.74 per 1,000, and among colored 17.28 per 1,000. The highest death-rate among whites was in New Mexico, 22.04 per 1,000, and the lowest in Arizona, 7.91 per 1,000; the highest among colored in the District of Columbia, 35.25, and the lowest in Arizona, 1.89.

From 1775 to 1815 immigration into the United States was very small, on account of the American Revolution and the European wars, not over 3,000 or 4,000 a year arriving during this period. When peace between England and America was re-established, in 1815, immigration took a fresh start. The total number of immigrants from 1820 to 1891 (June 30) was 15,946,410. The following statement, in which, from July 1, 1885, immigrants from Canada and Mexico are not included, shows the number arrived in the United States from the leading foreign countries during the decade ending June 30, 1891, with the total number of immigrants in each year during that period:- Year ending British Isles.

Sweden Norway Austria- Total Im- Germany.

Russia. Italy.

France. and Hungary. migrants.

June 30.

Denmark. 1882 179,423 250,630 105,326 29,150 32,084 21,590 6,003 788,902 1883 158,092 194,786 71,994 27,625 31,792 9,809 4,821 603.322 1884 129,294 179,676 52,728 35,571 16.510 17,226 3,608 519,312 1885 109,508 124.443 40,704 27.309 13,599 20,243 3,493 395,346 1886 112,548 84.403 46,735 28,680 21,315 21,739 3,318 334,203 1887 161,748 106,865 67,629 40,265 47,622 36,894 5,034 490,109 1888 182,203 109,717 81,924 45,811 51,075 39,313 6 454 546,889 1889 153,549 99.538 57,504 34,174 24,848 31,889 5,918 444,427 1890 122.754 92,427 50,368 56,199 51,799 33,147 6,585 455,302 1891 122,311 113,554 60,107 71,042 76,065 47.426 6,766 560,319 Thus the total for the last ten years, including other countries besides those mentioned, was 5,138,221. Of the total immigrants in 1891, 206,260 were females. The total number of Chinese immigrants between 1855 and 1885 was 274,399, but the total number reported in the census of 1880 was 105,465. Many are supposed to have returned. By the law passed in 1882, Chinese immigration has been prohibited for ten years.

The following table shows the comparative increase of the population during the last five decades by reproduction and by immigration :- Percentage of Decade Increase.

Decade Year Population. total Increase.

Decade Increase by Immigrants.

By Total.

By Immigration Reproduction. 1840 17,069,453 4,203,433 599,125 32.67 4.65 28.02 1850 23,191,876 6,122,443 1,653,275 35.87 9.68 26.19 1860 38,443,321 8,251,445 2,639,556 35.58 11.38 24.20 1870 38,558,371 7,115,053 2,281,142 22.63 7.25 15.38 1880 50,155,783 11,597,412 2,812,191 30.07 7.29 22.78 1890 62,622,250 12,466,467 5,247,333 24.85 10.46 14.39

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