Throughout the early modern period, the largest city in Italy was Naples. The middle ages saw many metropolitan areas along the Mediterranean grow to become the largest in Europe, as they developed into meeting ports for merchants travelling between the three continents. Italy, throughout this time, was not a unified country, but rather a collection of smaller states that had many cultural similarities, and political control of these cities regularly shifted over the given period. Across this time, the population of each city generally grew between each century, but a series of plague outbreaks in the 1600s devastated the populations of Italy's metropolitan areas, which can be observed here. Naples At the beginning of the 1500s, the Kingdom of Naples was taken under the control of the Spanish crown, where its capital grew to become the largest city in the newly-expanding Spanish Empire. Prosperity then grew in the 16th and 17th centuries, before the city's international importance declined in the 18th century. There is also a noticeable dip in Naples' population size between 1600 and 1700, due to an outbreak of plague in 1656 that almost halved the population. Today, Naples is just the third largest city in Italy, behind Rome and Milan. Rome Over 2,000 years ago, Rome became the first city in the world to have a population of more than one million people, and in 2021, it was Italy's largest city with a population of 2.8 million; however it did go through a period of great decline in the middle ages. After the Fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476CE, Rome's population dropped rapidly, below 100,000 inhabitants in 500CE. 1,000 years later, Rome was an important city in Europe as it was the seat of the Catholic Church, and it had a powerful banking sector, but its population was just 55,000 people as it did not have the same appeal for merchants or migrants held by the other port cities. A series of reforms by the Papacy in the late-1500s then saw significant improvements to infrastructure, housing, and sanitation, and living standards rose greatly. Over the following centuries, the Papacy consolidated its power in the center of the Italian peninsula, which brought stability to the region, and the city of Rome became a cultural center. Across this period, Rome's population grew almost three times larger, which was the highest level of growth of these cities.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the state of New York from 1900 to 2024.

In the past four centuries, the population of the United States has grown from a recorded 350 people around the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1610, to an estimated 331 million people in 2020. The pre-colonization populations of the indigenous peoples of the Americas have proven difficult for historians to estimate, as their numbers decreased rapidly following the introduction of European diseases (namely smallpox, plague and influenza). Native Americans were also omitted from most censuses conducted before the twentieth century, therefore the actual population of what we now know as the United States would have been much higher than the official census data from before 1800, but it is unclear by how much. Population growth in the colonies throughout the eighteenth century has primarily been attributed to migration from the British Isles and the Transatlantic slave trade; however it is also difficult to assert the ethnic-makeup of the population in these years as accurate migration records were not kept until after the 1820s, at which point the importation of slaves had also been illegalized. Nineteenth century In the year 1800, it is estimated that the population across the present-day United States was around six million people, with the population in the 16 admitted states numbering at 5.3 million. Migration to the United States began to happen on a large scale in the mid-nineteenth century, with the first major waves coming from Ireland, Britain and Germany. In some aspects, this wave of mass migration balanced out the demographic impacts of the American Civil War, which was the deadliest war in U.S. history with approximately 620 thousand fatalities between 1861 and 1865. The civil war also resulted in the emancipation of around four million slaves across the south; many of whose ancestors would take part in the Great Northern Migration in the early 1900s, which saw around six million black Americans migrate away from the south in one of the largest demographic shifts in U.S. history. By the end of the nineteenth century, improvements in transport technology and increasing economic opportunities saw migration to the United States increase further, particularly from southern and Eastern Europe, and in the first decade of the 1900s the number of migrants to the U.S. exceeded one million people in some years. Twentieth and twenty-first century The U.S. population has grown steadily throughout the past 120 years, reaching one hundred million in the 1910s, two hundred million in the 1960s, and three hundred million in 2007. In the past century, the U.S. established itself as a global superpower, with the world's largest economy (by nominal GDP) and most powerful military. Involvement in foreign wars has resulted in over 620,000 further U.S. fatalities since the Civil War, and migration fell drastically during the World Wars and Great Depression; however the population continuously grew in these years as the total fertility rate remained above two births per woman, and life expectancy increased (except during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918).

Since the Second World War, Latin America has replaced Europe as the most common point of origin for migrants, with Hispanic populations growing rapidly across the south and border states. Because of this, the proportion of non-Hispanic whites, which has been the most dominant ethnicity in the U.S. since records began, has dropped more rapidly in recent decades. Ethnic minorities also have a much higher birth rate than non-Hispanic whites, further contributing to this decline, and the share of non-Hispanic whites is expected to fall below fifty percent of the U.S. population by the mid-2000s. In 2020, the United States has the third-largest population in the world (after China and India), and the population is expected to reach four hundred million in the 2050s.

Crime and socioeconomic data for the German Reich and mortality statistics for Prussia at county level for 1871 to 1912.

Topics: A: variables for the entire German Reich (1047 counties)

1. crime data: a) totals of all convicted for crimes and offences per 100000 b) number convicted due to dangerous bodily injury per 100000 c) number convicted due to simple theft per 100000

2. demographic information: a) totals of population of the age of criminal responsibility in the counties for 1885, 1905 and 1910 b) male German-speaking population in 1900 c) female German-speaking population in 1900 d) male, non-German-speaking population in 1900 e) female, non-German-speaking population in 1900 f) primary ethnic groups in 1900

3. data on urbanization: a) total population of the municipalities with more than 2000 residents per county in 1900 b) population in medium-sized cities per county in 1900 c) population in large cities per county in 1900 d) total population per county in 1900 e) typing the counties in city counties (=1) and districts (=2) in 1900

4. Geographic data a) short designation of all counties (1881 to 1912) b) identification number of all counties listed under 4a) c) surface area of the county in square kilometers in 1900

B: variables for Prussia (583 counties) mortality data for 1885, 1886, 1904, 1905 and 1906:

a) totals of deaths (according to sex) for the respective year b) number of deaths due to Tuberculosis (according to sex) for the respective year c) number of deaths due to suicide (according to sex) for the respective year d) number of deaths due to murder and manslaughter (according to sex) for the respective year

The variables for the Prussian counties can be compared with the corresponding counties of the German Reich.

In the year 1500, the share of Western Europe's population living in urban areas was just six percent, but this rose to 31 percent by the end of the 19th century. Despite this drastic change, development was quite slow between 1500 and 1800, and it was not until the industrial revolution when there was a spike in urbanization. As Britain was the first region to undergo the industrial revolution, from around the 1760s until the 1840s, these areas were the most urbanized in Europe by 1890. The Low Countries Prior to the 19th century, Belgium and the Netherlands had been the most urbanized regions due to the legacy of their proto-industrial areas in the medieval period, and then the growth of their port cities during the Netherlands' empirical expansion (Belgium was a part of the Netherlands until the 1830s). Belgium was also quick to industrialize in the 1800s, and saw faster development than its larger, more economically powerful neighbors, France and Germany. Least-urban areas Ireland was the only Western European region with virtually no urbanization in the 16th and 17th century, but the industrial growth of Belfast and Dublin (then major port cities of the British Empire) saw this change by the late-1800s. The region of Scandinavia was the least-urbanized area in Western Europe by 1890, but it saw rapid economic growth in Europe during the first half of the following century.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the state of Arizona from 1900 to 2024.

The author statistically depicts the population growth of the largest German cities between 1871 and 1910. He uses the official statistics. He breaks down the cities into zones in order to make their development comparable.In order to do this, he used the term agglomeration, with which he refers to the contiguous built-up area, with developed infrastructure as well as traffic routes and rail traffic, and their population. In order to find as uniform a demarcation as possible, he delimits the areas of the respective cities by drawing circles whose radius starts from the center of the city and is 10 km long. This is the entire agglomeration, which finally differentiates it into the inner agglomeration and outer agglomeration. The inner agglomeration is located within 5 km of the city center. The outer agglomeration refers to the areas at a distance of 5 to 10 km around the city center. The following cities are being investigated by him:Aachen; Augsburg; Berlin; Braunschweig; Bremen; Breslau (Wroclaw); Kassel (in the data old spelling: Cassel); Chemnitz; Cologne (in the data old spelling: Cöln); Krefeld (in the data old spelling: Crefeld); Danzig; Dortmund; Dresden; Dusseldorf; Duisburg; Elberfeld; Erfurt; Essen; Frankfurt a. Main; Halle; Hannover; Karlsruhe; Kiel; Koenigsberg; Leipzig; Magdeburg; Mainz; Mannheim; Munich; Nuremberg; Plauen; Posen; Saarbrücken; Stettin; Strasbourg; Stuttgart. Variables are the city area, the inhabitants of the city as a whole, the population as an index on the basis of 1971 = 100, the inhabitants of the territories incorporated into the cities between 1871 and 1910, and the population density of the city and the incorporated areas. Reporting years are 1871, 1880, 1890,1900, and 1910. The data has been classified in the online database histat (https://histat.gesis.org/histat/) under the topic ´population´.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Los Angeles metro area from 1950 to 2025.

The Italian city of Venice was one of the largest cities in medieval and Renaissance era Europe. It was the center of the Republic of Venice, a maritime empire in the Mediterranean, and had one of Europe's largest ports for exotic goods (particularly from Asia), or luxury goods such as glassware. Impact of plague While its population was relatively small by modern standards, it is believed that Venice was among the five most populous cities in Western Europe in the given years between 1050 and 1650. The city's population did fluctuate over time due to devastating pandemics, and it is believed that Venice was one of the main points of entry for the Black Death in Europe. Venice was one of the hardest-hit cities during the Black Death; estimates fluctuate greatly across sources, but it is believed that the city lost around 40 percent of its population during the initial outbreak in the 1340s. Decline Furthermore, Venice lost roughly a third of its population during further plague pandemics (both introduced via war) in the 1570s and 1630s. Because of this, the population was kept fairly consistent across the given years between 1600 and 1800. The 18th century also saw the decline of the Venetian Empire, as other states gained power and influence in the Mediterranean. Venice also lost its importance as the entry point of exotic goods into Europe, as other European powers had already established their own maritime empires and trade routes across the globe. Eventually, the crumbling Venetian Empire fell to Napoleon in 1796, and its overseas territories were gradually taken by or split among various other powers. While the empire fell, the city itself continued to be a center for art and culture in Europe, and it has maintained this status until today. In 2021, Venice had a population of more than 250,000 people.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Tokyo, Japan metro area from 1950 to 2025.

In 1800, the population of Japan was just over 30 million, a figure which would grow by just two million in the first half of the 19th century. However, with the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate and the restoration of the emperor in the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japan would begin transforming from an isolated feudal island, to a modernized empire built on Western models. The Meiji period would see a rapid rise in the population of Japan, as industrialization and advancements in healthcare lead to a significant reduction in child mortality rates, while the creation overseas colonies would lead to a strong economic boom. However, this growth would slow beginning in 1937, as Japan entered a prolonged war with the Republic of China, which later grew into a major theater of the Second World War. The war was eventually brought to Japan's home front, with the escalation of Allied air raids on Japanese urban centers from 1944 onwards (Tokyo was the most-bombed city of the Second World War). By the war's end in 1945 and the subsequent occupation of the island by the Allied military, Japan had suffered over two and a half million military fatalities, and over one million civilian deaths.

The population figures of Japan were quick to recover, as the post-war “economic miracle” would see an unprecedented expansion of the Japanese economy, and would lead to the country becoming one of the first fully industrialized nations in East Asia. As living standards rose, the population of Japan would increase from 77 million in 1945, to over 127 million by the end of the century. However, growth would begin to slow in the late 1980s, as birth rates and migration rates fell, and Japan eventually grew to have one of the oldest populations in the world. The population would peak in 2008 at just over 128 million, but has consistently fallen each year since then, as the fertility rate of the country remains below replacement level (despite government initiatives to counter this) and the country's immigrant population remains relatively stable. The population of Japan is expected to continue its decline in the coming years, and in 2020, it is estimated that approximately 126 million people inhabit the island country.

Abstract

This dataset includes all individuals from the 1860 US census.

Before Manuscript Submission

All manuscripts (and other items you'd like to publish) must be submitted to

phsdatacore@stanford.edu for approval prior to journal submission.

We will check your cell sizes and citations.

For more information about how to cite PHS and PHS datasets, please visit:

https:/phsdocs.developerhub.io/need-help/citing-phs-data-core

Documentation

This dataset was developed through a collaboration between the Minnesota Population Center and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The data contain demographic variables, economic variables, migration variables and race variables. Unlike more recent census datasets, pre-1900 census datasets only contain individual level characteristics and no household or family characteristics, but household and family identifiers do exist.

The official enumeration day of the 1860 census was 1 June 1860. The main goal of an early census like the 1860 U.S. census was to allow Congress to determine the collection of taxes and the appropriation of seats in the House of Representatives. Each district was assigned a U.S. Marshall who organized other marshals to administer the census. These enumerators visited households and recorder names of every person, along with their age, sex, color, profession, occupation, value of real estate, place of birth, parental foreign birth, marriage, literacy, and whether deaf, dumb, blind, insane or “idiotic”.

Sources: Szucs, L.D. and Hargreaves Luebking, S. (1997). Research in Census Records, The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy. Ancestry Incorporated, Salt Lake City, UT Dollarhide, W.(2000). The Census Book: A Genealogist’s Guide to Federal Census Facts, Schedules and Indexes. Heritage Quest, Bountiful, UT

Venice has progressively lost its inhabitants living in the historical center. For 15 centuries, this area has been the cornerstone of the city's political, economic, and social life, with a peak of 174,800 residents reached in 1951. Since then, a substantial decline started in favor of the mainland. In 1960, it became more populous than the ancient settlement for the first time since the founding in the seventh century A.D. Over the last 20 years, the inhabitants of the dry land stabilized around 180,000 people. There they can find better and easily accessible public services and modern infrastructures while avoiding the problem of overtourism. On the contrary, in 2024 only 48,000 inhabitants lived in the center, more than 70 percent less than in 1952. The population residing in the estuary never exceeded 51,000 people, and the depopulation trend has been constant since the 1990s. The problem of overtourism Tourism is a crucial sector for the city’s economy. It contributes 1.67 billion euros to Venice’s Gross Domestic Product, and more than 1,260 hotels are located within the municipality. Despite being its largest economic resource, tourism has gradually become one of the greatest threats to Venice’s survival. Less than 50,000 people reside in the historical city center, which was visited by almost six million tourists in 2023. Overtourism, with an enormous disproportion between visitors and inhabitants, has significantly lowered Venice’s life quality, and relocating to the mainland appears to be the only feasible solution for many Venetians. Between April and July 2024, the municipality administration introduced a five-euro ticket that daily tourists had to purchase before entering Venice, with the objective of controlling the flow of tourism.

In 2023, the population of the United Kingdom reached 68.3 million, compared with 67.6 million in 2022. The UK population has more than doubled since 1871 when just under 31.5 million lived in the UK and has grown by around 8.2 million since the start of the twenty-first century. For most of the twentieth century, the UK population steadily increased, with two noticeable drops in population occurring during World War One (1914-1918) and in World War Two (1939-1945). Demographic trends in postwar Britain After World War Two, Britain and many other countries in the Western world experienced a 'baby boom,' with a postwar peak of 1.02 million live births in 1947. Although the number of births fell between 1948 and 1955, they increased again between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s, with more than one million people born in 1964. Since 1964, however, the UK birth rate has fallen from 18.8 births per 1,000 people to a low of just 10.2 in 2020. As a result, the UK population has gotten significantly older, with the country's median age increasing from 37.9 years in 2001 to 40.7 years in 2022. What are the most populated areas of the UK? The vast majority of people in the UK live in England, which had a population of 57.7 million people in 2023. By comparison, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland had populations of 5.44 million, 3.13 million, and 1.9 million, respectively. Within England, South East England had the largest population, at over 9.38 million, followed by the UK's vast capital city of London, at 8.8 million. London is far larger than any other UK city in terms of urban agglomeration, with just four other cities; Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Glasgow, boasting populations that exceed one million people.

In 1800, the present-day region of Mexico had a population of just over six million people. Mexico gained its independence from the Spanish crown in 1821, and population growth remained steady for the next 85 years. Growth then halted with with the Panic of 1907, an American financial crisis whose ripple effects in Mexico would set the stage for the Mexican Revolution in 1910. This revolution would see population flatline at just over fifteen million between 1910 and 1920, as widespread conflict and result in the death of between 1.7 to 2.7 million over the decade, and the coinciding 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic would see the loss of another 300,000 in this time period. Following the end of both the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1920, the population of Mexico would begin to increase rapidly as modernization would see mortality rates fall and standards of living rise throughout the country. This growth has continued steadily into the 21st century, and in 2020, Mexico is estimated to have a population of just under 129 million.

As of July 2024, Nigeria's population was estimated at around 229.5 million. Between 1965 and 2024, the number of people living in Nigeria increased at an average rate of over two percent. In 2024, the population grew by 2.42 percent compared to the previous year. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. By extension, the African continent records the highest growth rate in the world. Africa's most populous country Nigeria was the most populous country in Africa as of 2023. As of 2022, Lagos held the distinction of being Nigeria's biggest urban center, a status it also retained as the largest city across all of sub-Saharan Africa. The city boasted an excess of 17.5 million residents. Notably, Lagos assumed the pivotal roles of the nation's primary financial hub, cultural epicenter, and educational nucleus. Furthermore, Lagos was one of the largest urban agglomerations in the world. Nigeria's youthful population In Nigeria, a significant 50 percent of the populace is under the age of 19. The most prominent age bracket is constituted by those up to four years old: comprising 8.3 percent of men and eight percent of women as of 2021. Nigeria boasts one of the world's most youthful populations. On a broader scale, both within Africa and internationally, Niger maintains the lowest median age record. Nigeria secures the 20th position in global rankings. Furthermore, the life expectancy in Nigeria is an average of 62 years old. However, this is different between men and women. The main causes of death have been neonatal disorders, malaria, and diarrheal diseases.

In 1800, it is estimated that approximately 9.4 million people lived in the region of modern-day South Korea (and 13.8 million on the entire peninsula). The population of this region would remain fairly constant through much of the 19th century, but would begin to grow gradually starting in the mid-1800s, as the fall of the Joseon dynasty and pressure from the U.S. and Japan would end centuries of Korean isolationism. Following the opening of the country to foreign trade, the Korean peninsula would begin to modernize, and by the start of the 20th century, it would have a population of just over ten million. The Korean peninsula was then annexed by Japan in 1910, whose regime implemented industrialization and modernization policies that saw the population of South Korea rising from just under ten million in 1900, to over fifteen million by the start of the Second World War in 1939.

The Korean War Like most regions, the end of the Second World War coincided with a baby boom, that helped see South Korea's population grow by almost two million between 1945 and 1950. However, this boom would stop suddenly in the early 1950s, due to disruption caused by the Korean War. After WWII, the peninsula was split along the 38th parallel, with governments on both sides claiming to be the legitimate rulers of all Korea. Five years of tensions then culminated in North Korea's invasion of the South in June 1950, in the first major conflict of the Cold War. In September, the UN-backed South then repelled the Soviet- and Chinese-backed Northern army, and the frontlines would then fluctuate on either side of the 38th parallel throughout the next three years. The war came to an end in July, 1953, and had an estimated death toll of three million fatalities. The majority of fatalities were civilians on both sides, although the North suffered a disproportionate amount due to extensive bombing campaigns of the U.S. Unlike North Korea, the South's total population did not fall during the war.

Post-war South Korea Between the war's end and the late 1980s, the South's total population more than doubled. In these decades, South Korea was generally viewed as a nominal democracy under authoritarian and military leadership; it was not until 1988 when South Korea transitioned into a stable democracy, and grew its international presence. Much of South Korea's rapid socio-economic growth in the late 20th century was based on the West German model, and was greatly assisted by Japanese and U.S. investment. Today, South Korea is considered one of the world's wealthiest and most developed nations, ranking highly in terms of GDP, human development and life expectancy; it is home to some of the most valuable brands in the world, such as Samsung and Hyundai; and has a growing international cultural presence in music and cinema. In the past decades, South Korea's population growth has somewhat slowed, however it remains one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with total population of more than 51 million people.

Due to the devastating impact of the Second World War on the Soviet population, the total population in 1950 was almost 15.5 million fewer than in 1940, which is a decrease of eight percent. In Russia (RSFSR), the largest of the Soviet states, the population difference was almost nine million people; also eight percent. It would take until 1955 for the populations of either the USSR or Russia to reach their pre-war levels, which was a decade after the conflict had ended. Urbanization Despite this drop in total population, industrialization and urbanization saw a significant change in the USSR's population distribution between the given years. The Soviet urban population increased by 6.3 million, or ten percent, between 1940 and 1950; 5.8 million of this was in Russia, which was a 15 percent increase. In contrast, the Soviet Union's rural population dropped by 21.8 million (a 17 percent change), 14.5 million of which in Russia (a decrease of 20 percent). In terms of overall population, the urban population of the USSR rose from 33 to 39 percent between 1940 and 1950, and from 34 to 43 percent in Russia. By 1955, 44 percent of the Soviet population, and 49 percent of the Russian population, lived in an urban setting.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Delhi, India metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the London, UK metro area from 1950 to 2025.