During the Second World War, the three Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Finland mobilized the largest share of their male population. For the Allies, the Soviet Union mobilized the largest share of men, as well as the largest total army of any country, but it was restricted in its ability to mobilize more due to the impact this would have on its economy. Other notable statistics come from the British Empire, where a larger share of men were drafted from Dominions than from the metropole, and there is also a discrepancy between the share of the black and white populations from South Africa.
However, it should be noted that there were many external factors from the war that influenced these figures. For example, gender ratios among the adult populations of many European countries was already skewed due to previous conflicts of the 20th century (namely WWI and the Russian Revolution), whereas the share of the male population eligible to fight in many Asian and African countries was lower than more demographically developed societies, as high child mortality rates meant that the average age of the population was much lower.
Islam is the major religion in many African countries, especially in the north of the continent. In Comoros, Libya, Western Sahara, at least 99 percent of the population was Muslim as of 202. These were the highest percentages on the continent. However, also in many other African nations, the majority of the population was Muslim. In Egypt, for instance, Islam was the religion of 79 percent of the people. Islam and other religions in Africa Africa accounts for an important share of the world’s Muslim population. As of 2019, 16 percent of the Muslims worldwide lived in Sub-Saharan Africa, while 20 percent of them lived in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Together with Christianity, Islam is the most common religious affiliation in Africa, followed by several traditional African religions. Although to a smaller extent, numerous other religions are practiced on the continent: these include Judaism, the Baha’i Faith, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Number of Muslims worldwide Islam is one of the most widespread religions in the world. There are approximately 1.9 billion Muslims globally, with the largest Muslim communities living in the Asia-Pacific region. Specifically, Indonesia hosts the highest number of Muslims worldwide, amounting to over 200 million, followed by India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Islam is also present in Europe and America. The largest Islamic communities in Europe are in France (5.72 million), Germany (4.95 million), and the United Kingdom (4.13 million). In the United States, there is an estimated number of around 3.45 million Muslims.
The crime rate in Germany for 2022 was 6,762 crimes per 100,000 people, making it the first time in seven years in which the crime rate rose compared to the year before. Between 2000 and 2004 the crime rate in Germany increased from 7,625 to 8,037, before declining to 7,253 by 2010. The years between 2010 and 2015 saw an increase in the crime rate, but after 2015, the recent trend of declining crime started, leading to the generally low figures seen in the most recent years. While the uptick in the crime rate in 2022 marks a negative turn compared with these years, the overall crime rate is still much lower on average than in previous decades.
Crime rate highest in cities Germany’s sixteen states are made up of thirteen federal states, and three city states; Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen. These three city states had the highest regional crime rates in Germany, due to only covering urban areas which usually have higher crime rates than rural areas. The large federal state of Bavaria, in the southeast of Germany, had the lowest crime rate in the country at 4,698 crimes per 100,000 people in 2020. Baden-Württemberg, home to the black forest and the city of Stuttgart had the second-lowest crime rate per 100 thousand people in this year, at 4,944.
The Black Death was the largest and deadliest pandemic of Yersinia pestis recorded in human history, and likely the most infamous individual pandemic ever documented. The plague originated in the Eurasian Steppes, before moving with Mongol hordes to the Black Sea, where it was then brought by Italian merchants to the Mediterranean. From here, the Black Death then spread to almost all corners of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. While it was never endemic to these regions, it was constantly re-introduced via trade routes from Asia (such as the Silk Road), and plague was present in Western Europe until the seventeenth century, and the other regions until the nineteenth century. Impact on Europe In Europe, the major port cities and metropolitan areas were hit the hardest. The plague spread through south-western Europe, following the arrival of Italian galleys in Sicily, Genoa, Venice, and Marseilles, at the beginning of 1347. It is claimed that Venice, Florence, and Siena lost up to two thirds of their total population during epidemic's peak, while London, which was hit in 1348, is said to have lost at least half of its population. The plague then made its way around the west of Europe, and arrived in Germany and Scandinavia in 1348, before travelling along the Baltic coast to Russia by 1351 (although data relating to the death tolls east of Germany is scarce). Some areas of Europe remained untouched by the plague for decades; for example, plague did not arrive in Iceland until 1402, however it swept across the island with devastating effect, causing the population to drop from 120,000 to 40,000 within two years. Reliability While the Black Death affected three continents, there is little recorded evidence of its impact outside of Southern or Western Europe. In Europe, however, many sources conflict and contrast with one another, often giving death tolls exceeding the estimated population at the time (such as London, where the death toll is said to be three times larger than the total population). Therefore, the precise death tolls remain uncertain, and any figures given should be treated tentatively.
In 1880, European territories in Africa were largely concentrated along the coast, and the vast majority of the continent was officially independent from foreign control. By 1914, however, only the regions of Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia) and Liberia (under the unofficial protection of the U.S.) had not been claimed by a European power. In what became known as the "Scramble for Africa" in the 1880s, the new nations of Germany and Italy sought to establish overseas empires and compete with other European powers; a number of whom had lost the majority of their colonies in the Americas, or run out of room to expand in the Asia-Pacific, and were also keen on African colonization. New possibilities and opportunities Inward expansion in the continent was facilitated by improvements in transport technology (particularly the use of steamships) and the development of anti-malarial medicines. This led to the discovery and exploitation of Africa's vast, untapped natural resources, as well as the establishment of militant trading companies who enforced these activities. Through a series of bilateral treaties and the Conference of Berlin 1884-5, European powers largely agreed upon defined boundaries between their respective territories; this allowed them to focus on securing their commercial aspirations and the suppression of native populations, without the same level of European competition they faced when colonizing the Americas. Britain and France ultimately controlled the largest territories; Britain's goal was to control one continuous territory that stretched the length of the continent, from Egypt to South Africa (which they eventually achieved following the First World War), while France's aim was for one continuous territory stretching across Africa, which would give them control of the Nile, Niger and Saharan trade routes. The newly constructed Suez Canal in Egypt was arguably the most coveted possession, as it greatly reduced the time needed for trade from Asia to reach Europe; it was eventually administered by Britain. Legacy European colonization in Africa is largely remembered for the widespread atrocities inflicted upon the African people, and the exploitation of its resources. The most well-known of these were committed in the Congo Free State (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo). Belgian King Leopold II privately owned this territory and claimed to be conducting humanitarian work in the region; however, this was a ploy to raise capital for commercial ventures, and a front for the forced labor of the Congolese natives. These forced laborers (many of which were children) were seen as expendable, and were mutilated or murdered for failure to meet quotas; severed hands even became trophies or determined the wage bonuses of European soldiers. Despite condemnation from the international community at the time, there is evidence of their continuation after the Belgian state took control of the region in 1908, and of widespread atrocities committed by all European powers in their respective territories. Additionally, due to European influence, Africa became a major theater in both World Wars; Africans suffered disproportionately in terms of military and civilian losses, while colonial mismanagement also led to famines that killed millions. The lack of accurate census data throughout this period has made it impossible for historians to determine the full extent of the atrocities inflicted upon Africa from the 1880s until independence, although most estimates of the death tolls are several tens of millions, with up to ten million deaths in the Congo Free State alone. Today, even in the post-independence era, Western influence remains a contentious subject on the continent, with some former-French colonies expelling Western businesses and militaries from their countries during recent coups, while the foreign extraction of raw materials from countries such as the DRC come have a destabilizing effect on local populations.
The Black Death, possibly the deadliest and most well-known pandemic in human history, arrived in Europe from the Eurasian Steppes in 1347 and killed as much as 60 percent of the population within the next five years. While this outbreak eventually subsided, it was just the beginning of the Second Plague Pandemic; the bubonic plague was never really endemic to Europe, but was continuously re-introduced to Europe and the Mediterranean region via trade from Asia. Plague in the interim Following the Black Death, outbreaks of plague were sporadic, and varied in severity; however the lack of understanding and treatment meant that these outbreaks had incredibly high fatality rates and often decimated large portions of infected populations. For example, London lost up to one quarter of its population to plague epidemics in the 1560s, and again in the 1660s, while more than a century later Moscow and the surrounding region reportedly lost several hundred thousand people to plague within two years. Smaller and more isolated communities, such as in Cyprus, Iceland, and Malta were hit infrequently but severely; Iceland reportedly lost two thirds of its total population in a single pandemic in the early 1400s. Decline in Europe Over four centuries after its arrival in Europe, epidemics began to wean on larger scales. Ireland recorded its final epidemic in 1650, and the trend then continued across the states of mainland Europe in the next few decades. After plague disappeared from the German states in the 1680s, there were no more plague epidemics recorded in North or Western Europe. Despite this, it would be almost 160 years before plague disappeared from the Balkans and Turkey. As of 1841, the only part of Europe where plague was still endemic was along the Volga river in Russia; it was brought there by fisherman to the Caspian Sea from Persia and the Eurasian Steppe region.
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During the Second World War, the three Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Finland mobilized the largest share of their male population. For the Allies, the Soviet Union mobilized the largest share of men, as well as the largest total army of any country, but it was restricted in its ability to mobilize more due to the impact this would have on its economy. Other notable statistics come from the British Empire, where a larger share of men were drafted from Dominions than from the metropole, and there is also a discrepancy between the share of the black and white populations from South Africa.
However, it should be noted that there were many external factors from the war that influenced these figures. For example, gender ratios among the adult populations of many European countries was already skewed due to previous conflicts of the 20th century (namely WWI and the Russian Revolution), whereas the share of the male population eligible to fight in many Asian and African countries was lower than more demographically developed societies, as high child mortality rates meant that the average age of the population was much lower.