African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1348: Chapter 356: The World’s Third Most Populous Great Power (Double Chapter)_2

”Your Majesty, based on the initial compilation of domestic registration data, without considering other interfering factors, by the end of 1918, our total population reached 163 million, with urban population accounting for more than 34%, which is approximately 55.4 million, while rural population stood at around 107 million.”

”That means our current population size is roughly equivalent to pre-war Tsarist Russia. However, considering the significant reduction in Russian territory nowadays, along with the current civil war in Russia, and the previous wars between Russia and the Allies.”

”The Russian population certainly has decreased rather than increased, which means, without considering colonial territories, our nation has officially replaced Russia, becoming the world’s third most populous country, a step forward compared to the last statistics.”

Prior to World War I, Russian population fluctuated between 160 and 180 million according to the results deduced from the last century’s Russian census data, as well as Russian birth and death rates.

The last official population census of Tsarist Russia was conducted in the 1890s, when Russia claimed a population of over 130 million.

At that time, Tsarist Russia was in its twilight years, occupying large lands such as Ukraine and Poland, but after the Russian Labor Party came to power, it lost a vast amount of territory, reducing its territory from over 20 million square kilometers to close to 20 million square kilometers.

Moreover, all of Russia’s lost areas were densely populated regions in Europe or along the Black Sea. Coupled with the brutal civil war in Russia today, Russian population might even fall below 100 million.

Even if Russia might recover lost territories in the future, it cannot surpass East Africa in population scale. Based on historical data, after the Russian civil war ended, even though Russia reclaimed territories stipulated by the Treaty of Brest due to Allied defeat, Soviet official data later showed that Russia’s population significantly declined.

Based on the initial population data, East Africa has already replaced Russia as the world’s third most populous country, preceded only by the Far East Empire and the United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom’s population ranks second worldwide mainly due to India, so whether considering the United Kingdom alone or comparing India separately, East Africa’s status as the world’s third populous nation is unaffected.

Also, this data doesn’t include the population of the East African colonies, as East Africa doesn’t care or pay close attention to the specific colonial population figures, which have always been relatively rough, and aren’t meticulously checked by the East African Government.

After all, just handling the local population survey has already stretched the East African government departments, consuming significant manpower, resources, and finances. Checking the colonial population would overburden the East African government staff.

Typically, population censuses in East African colonies are resolved and reported by colonial governments themselves; the East African government only needs a general understanding. For the East African government, the more population in colonies, the better, as colonies serve as East Africa’s future reserve pool to address future domestic aging issues.

So long as the colonial population continues increasing, it meets Ernst’s expectations. In fact, the population of East African colonies finds it difficult not to grow, not needing substantial support from the East African Government.

After all, people who could immigrate to East African colonies wouldn’t have lower birth rates than the local population, even if living standards in colonies differ greatly from those of East Africa proper.

Compared to the colonies, domestic population data is evidently more significant to Ernst. Upon learning East African population surpassed 160 million, Ernst indeed felt delighted.

Although this data merely reflects preliminary results calculated from registration records and might not be entirely accurate, the final East African population figure should differ insignificantly from this data.

At this population scale, whether more or less by millions, the impact on East Africa is already minimal.

However, the final data should likely be higher than the preliminary results, so 160 million is merely a conservative estimate.

Ernst remarked, ”Our population surpassing 160 million affirms our status as the world’s third most populous nation, and population represents productivity.”

”Urban population exceeding 50 million, globally only the United States likely achieves this level. Our urban population might even surpass that of France or the UK proper.”

In 1918, the United States population was approximately close to 100 million; yet, its urbanization level was higher than East Africa’s, possibly reaching 50%. This implies the United States’ urban population likely also hovered around 50 million.

Certainly, if East Africa’s urban population only exceeded the US’s by about 5 million, it seems somewhat illogical, as East Africa has already replaced the US as the world’s leading industrial nation, though its industrial development quality slightly lags behind the US’s.

This means the United States’ industrial profit margins exceed East Africa’s under the same scale, not to mention that the US’s service and financial industries are more developed than East Africa’s — these industries also support urban development.

Thus, under comprehensive factors, if East Africa’s urban population only exceeded the US’s by 5 million, East Africa’s industrial output surpassing the US to claim the world’s top spot seems inconceivable, given that East Africa’s industrial development quality isn’t as high as the US’s.