POPULATION. The population of the United States constitutes over one-half that of the West ern Hemisphere and greatly exceeds that of any European country except Russia. The rapidity of the growth of the population is without paral lel among civilized nations. In 1900 it was over fourteen times greater than in 1800. Dur ing the same period the population of the United Kingdom and the German Empire in creased about two and one-half times each, while that of France increased by less than half. The growth of the population also has been remark ably steady. Except in the war decade, 1800-70, the increase in each decade since 1790 has been greater than in the decade preceding.
The following table shows the growth of the population by sections—the North as compared with the South and the East with the West: It will be seen that the North has, until recent years, grown much more rapidly in population than the South. The more rapid growth of the South in the last decade was largely due to the development in the southwest. The gain in the region east of the Mississippi has been remark ably regular. The percentage of gain west of the Mississippi was formerly enormous, but is rapid ly falling to that of the region east of the Mis sissippi. The percentage of gain of the former region in 1890-1900 was 25 and in the latter 19.2.
A considerable part of the country is losing in population. In the decade 1880-1890, 14.7 per cent. of the area of the North Atlantic and North Central States decreased in number of in habitants, and in the following decade 19.5 per cent. of the same area represented a loss. In the South Atlantic and South Central States the percentage of area which lost population in the respective decades was 9.0 and 5.1. Of the re gion east of the Mississippi 17.8 per cent. lost population in the decade 1880-90, and 10.G per cent. in the following decade. The corresponding percentages for the region west of the Mississippi were 10.1 and 11.1, respectively.
Estimates of the population prior to the first reg,tilar census place the figure at 200,000 in 1688 and 1,850,000 in 1770. At the time of the first census the population was almost wholly confined to the Atlantic coast region, the five most populous States being Virginia, Pennsyl vania, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and New York, in the order named. The growth of the country has involved an enormous migration of peoples. This movement may be considered as twofold: first, an interstate migration of native Americans; second, foreign immigration.