528 SCOTLAND [STATISTICS. PART III. STATISTICS. Popula- Population; Vital and Social Statistics. At the end of the 15th tion. century it is supposed that the population of Scotland did not exceed 500,000, Edinburgh having about 20,000 inhabitants, followed by Perth with about 9000, and Aberdeen, Dundee, and St Andrews each with about 4000. By the time of the Union in 1707 it is supposed to have reached 1,000,000, while according to the returns furnished by the clergy to Dr Webster in 1755 it was 1,265,380. At the time of the first Government census in 1801 it had reached 1,608,420. The increase through all the succeeding decades has been continuous, though fluctuating in amount, and in 1881 it had reached 3,735,573 (males 1,799,475, females 1,936,098), an increase within the eighty years of 132 per cent. During the same period the population of England and Wales had increased 192 per cent., wnile the population of Ireland, owing to a rapid decrease since 1841, does not now differ greatly from what it was at the beginning of the century. The following table (I.) gives the areas of the various counties and of the whole of Scotland, the population in 1871 and 1881, the num- ber of persons to the square mile of land-surface in the latter year, and the increase or decrease per cent, between 1871 and 1881 : Counties. Area in Acres. Population. Pop. per Sq. Mile, 1881. Increase or Decrease per cent. 1871-1881. 1871. 1881. Aberdeen 1,262,098 2,134,274 735,262 413,791 297,161 143,097 448,867 31,876 172,677 705,946 234,926 312,346 328,427 569,851 179,142 2,707,078 248,195 49,812 610,343 568,868 81,113 127,906 638,332 227,869 1,664,690 162,428 2,078,896 428,464 166,524 298,579 1. :;>:>. sic; 327,906 244,603 75,679 200,809 62,023 86,486 16,977 39,992 23,747 58,857 74,808 828,379 43,128 160,735 237,567 87,771 88,015 34,630 7,198 41,859 765,339 40,965 10,225 62,882 12,330 127,768 216,947 80,955 49,407 18,572 98,218 24,317 38,830 267,990 76,468 217,519 62,736 35,392 17,657 38,865 25,680 75,833 76,140 389,164 43,788 171,931 266,360 88,502 90,454 34,464 6,697 42,127 904,412 43,510 10,455 61,749 13,822 129,007 263,374 78,547 53,442 25,564 112,443 23,370 .;-/> 11 137 24 193 98 77 81 57 539 312 72 1075 92 349 304 142 22 90 92 47 1026 363 58 Orkney 85 Shetland 54 39 51 1075 25 80 99 251 12 79 + 9-56 + 1-04 + 8-32 + 1-15 - 3-00 + 4-00 - 2-82 + 8-14 +27-99 + 1-78 +18-51 + 1-53 + 6-96 +12-12 + 1-94 + 2-77 - 0-48 - 6-96 + 0-64 +18-17 + 6-21 + 2-25 + 2-46 - 6-02 +12-10 + 0-97 +21-40 - 2-97 + 8-17 +37-65 +14-48 - 3-89 - 0-56 Argyll Ayr Banff Berwick Bute Caithness Clackmannan . . Dumbarton .... Dumfries Edinburgh Elgin or Moray Fife Forfar.. ." Haddington .... Inverness Kincardine .... Kinross Kirkcudbright.. Lanark Linlithgow .... Nairn Orkney and Shetland Peebles Perth Renfrew Ross and Cro- marty Roxburgh Selkirk Stirling Sutherland Wigtown Total 19,777,490 3,360,018 3,735,573 125 +11-18 Table II. (see below) affords a comparison of the numbers of the population in 1861, 1871, and 1881 as grouped in towns, villages, and rural districts. The returns do not afford a means of comparison between earlier years than those given, A striking fact deserving of mention is that in every county in Scotland the population increased between 1801 and 1841, the increase being more than 10 per cent, in each county, with the exception of Argyll, Perth, and Sutherland. The census returns for these years do not supply materials for an accurate estimate as to the increase of the purely rural or agricultural population, but it must have been considerable. Between 1841 and 1881 the following counties declined in population: Argyll, Inverness, Kinross, Perth, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland, and Wigtown, all chiefly agricultural, and five of them in the Highlands, where much of the land was held by crofters. Only one county, Kinross, has a smaller population in 1881 than in 1801. Between 1851 and 1881 the island population, chiefly crofters, decreased by 4866, and the rural population between 1861 and 1881 by 125,583. In the following Highland counties the diminution in rural population between 1861 and 1881 was as follows : Argyll from 60,109 to 46,081, Caithness from 28,279 to 24,309, Inverness from 74,439 to 67,355, Perth from 69,480 to 57,016, Ross and Cromarty from 59,147 to 49,882, and Sutherland from 21,560 to 18,696. In the total population of Scotland the rate of increase was considerably less between 1841 and 1881 than during the first forty years of the century, 42'5 to 62'9 per cent. The rates per cent, of increase in the several decades from 1801 have been as follows : 12-27, 15'82, 13'04, 10'S2, 10'25, 6, 9-72, and 11-18. The high rate of increase between 1871 and 1881 was due to an exceptional briskness of trade, and unless it has been maintained (which is not probable) the estimate of the registrar- general, which makes the population in 1885 number 3,907,736, must be regarded as much too sanguine. Table III. (see below) gives the population of the eight largest towns of Scotland at decennial periods since 1801. It is a curious fact that each of these towns has maintained its place in the "eight," although several towns now tread closely on the heels of Perth, whose rate of progress with that of Paisley has lagged greatly behind that of the other six. While in England and Wales the number of persons to the square Distrib mile in 1881 was 452 and in Ireland 159, in Scotland the number tion of was only 125. The small density of Scotland is due chiefly to the popula^ large proportion of mountainous land. In the north-western coun- tion. ties the density was only 23 to the square mile, in the northern 34, in the west midland 68, in the southern 68, while in the north- eastern it was 115, in the east midland 149, in the south-eastern 299, and in the south-western Renfrew, Ayr, and Lanark 614. Table IV. (see p. 529) shows by the excess of births over deaths the increase that should have taken place between 1861 and 1871, and between 1871 and 1881 (but for the balance of emigration over immigration), compared with the actual increase, the grouping being into towns with over 25,000 inhabitants, towns between 10,000 and 25,000, towns under 10,000 and above 2000, and rural districts. It is impossible to make a comparison between 1861 and 1881 inasmuch as the proportion of large and small towns and rural districts has varied. It must also be explained that in comparing 1861 and 1871 the census of 1861 is taken as the authority for the grouping and in comparing 1871 and 1881 the census of 1871. This table shows in both decades an actual increase in the large and in the principal towns greater than that resulting from excess of births over deaths. It is the result not only of migration from the small towns and rural districts but of the immigration of English, Irish, and foreigners, and the return of natives of Scotland from abroad. By a comparison with Table II. it will be observed that the increase in the rural districts between the decades in Table IV. occurs only in the villages, and a closer examination of Table IV. further shows that any seeming increase is really delusive, and arises from the fact that there is no provision for the increase in TABLE II. Groups. Total Population. Increase or Decrease, 1801 to 1871. Increase or Decrease, 1S71 to 1881. Percentage to Total Population. 1S61. 1871. 1SS1. Actual. Percentage. Actual. Percentage. 1861. 1871. 1881. Towns 1,616,134 339,740 1,106,420 1,951,704 386,993 1,021,321 2,306,852 447,884 980,837 +335,570 + 47,253 - 85,099 +20-76 +13-90 - 7-69 +355,148 + 60,891 - 40,484 +18-20 +15-73 - 3-96 52-78 11-09 36-13 58-09 11-52 30-39 61-75 11-99 26-26 Villages Rural districts Scotland 8,062,294 3,360,018 3,735,573 +297,724 + 9-72 +375,555 +11-18 100-00 100-00 100-00 TABLE III. Name. 1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871. 1881. Estimate 1885. Edinburgh ) Leith j Glasgow 81,404 77,058 101,492 103,224 136,351 140,432 f 13(5,548 I 25,855 193 030 132,977 25,984 261 004 160,302 30,919 329 097 168,121 33,628 394 864 196,979 44,280 477 156 228,357
- V...1>-,
551 415 250,616 68,414 519,965
Aberdeen 26,992 34,640 43,821 56,681 63,288 71,973 73,805 88,108 105 189 113,212
Dundee 27,396 81,058 82,126 .; ~ u- v, r, i r."'i 78 931 " 117 118 977 140 230 152 838 Paisley 25,058 29,461 38,102 4(5 222 .',v 268 47 952 47 406 48 240 55 038 50 108 Greenock 17,190 18,750 21,719 27 082 B6 i 1 ' 1 '
- v, 689
42 098 57 146 W 704 73 0<>5
|Perth |16,388 |16,564 |18,197 |10,238 |20,407 |23,858 |25,250 |28,585 |28,980 |31,322 |}
