Population Growth in Large Cities (1875-1910) German cities experienced enormous growth during the Bismarckian and Wilhelmine periods. The population of Berlin, for example, more than doubled between 1875 and 1910. In addition to reflecting astounding growth rates, the population figures below document one significant effect of German industrialization: migration from the country to the city, where people hoped to find new work. The table reflects the extent of this shift. But a closer analysis of the statistics for the period 1875-1910 also reveals important disparities in the growth rates of particular cities. (Here, the year 1890 can be used as a “before and after” point for analyzing population growth.) For example, the population growth rate of Magdeburg, a city in central Germany, declined after 1890, as did the growth rate of Leipzig, a city in the Kingdom of Saxony, but Leipzig still continued to grow at twice the rate of Magdeburg. By contrast, cities like Duisburg and Essen, located in the Ruhr district of western Germany, grew more rapidly after 1890 than they had up to that point.
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page 1 of 1 The Growth of Major German Cities* (Cities with a Population Greater than 200,000 in 1910) 1875-1910 1875-1890 1890-1910 Population in Population growth rate 1875-1910 in % 1875 1890 1910 Berlin 966,859 1,587,794 2,071,257 114.2 64.2 30.4 Bremen 102,532 125,684 217,437 112.1 22.6 73.0 Breslau 239,050 335,186 512,105 114.2 40.2 52.8 Charlottenburg 25,847 76,859 305,978 1 083.8 197.4 298.1 Chemnitz 78,209 138,954 287,807 268.0 77.7 107.1 Cologne 135,371 281,681 516,527 281.6 108.1 83.4 Dortmund 57,742 89,663 214,226 271.0 55.3 138.9 Dresden 197,295 276,522 548,308 177.9 40.2 98.3 Düsseldorf 80,695 144,642 358,728 344.5 79.2 148.0 Duisburg 37,380 59,285 229,438 513.8 58.6 287.0 Essen/Ruhr 54,790 78,706 294,653 437.8 43.7 274.4 Frankfurt/M. 103,136 179,985 414,576 302.0 74.5 130.3 Hamburg 264,675 323,923 931,035 251.8 22.4 187.4 Hannover 106,677 163,593 302,375 183.4 53.4 84.8 Kiel 37,246 69,172 211,627 468.2 85.7 205.9 Königsberg 122,636 161,666 245,994 100.6 31.8 52.2 Leipzig 127,387 295,025 589,850 363.0 131.6 99.9 Magdeburg 87,925 202,234 279,629 218.0 130.0 38.3 Munich 193,024 349,024 596,467 209.0 80.8 70.9 Nuremberg 91,018 142,590 333,142 266.0 56.7 133.6 Stettin 80,972 116,228 236,113 191.6 43.5 103.1 Stuttgart 107,273 139,817 286,218 166.8 30.3 104.7 Number of cities with more than 10,000 residents 271 394 576 112.5 45.4 46.2 * The selection criterion of more than 200,000 inhabitants does not accord with the definition of a large city at the time, which included all cities with a population exceeding 100,000. Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich [Statistical Almanac for the German Reich]; 1881, pp. 3ff (for 1875); 1893, pp. 9ff (for 1890); 1914, pp. 12ff (for 1910). Original German table reprinted in Gerd Hohorst, Jürgen Kocka, and Gerhard Ritter, eds., Sozialgeschichtliches Arbeitsbuch: Materialien zur Statistik des Kaiserreichs 1870-1914 [Social History Workbook: Materials on Kaiserreich Statistics 1870-1914], vol. 2. Munich: C.H. Beck, 1975, pp. 45-46. Translation: Thomas Dunlap
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