The United Kingdom

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IX.—THE UNITED KINGDOM.¹

1. Population of the United Kingdom.

So far we have dealt exclusively with the results of the Census in England and Wales, that is to say, in that portion of the United Kingdom in which alone the enumeration was carried out and the results tabulated under our immediate superintendence.² Having now concluded our report on those results, our proper task is finished. It will probably, however, be convenient that we should go somewhat beyond our strict province, and give a summary view of the numerical results of the Census as carried out in the United Kingdom as a whole, and. still further as carried out in the entire British Empire.

The population of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland amounted to 34,884,848 persons; and if, in accordance with the usage of previous Censuses, we take into account the Islands in the British Seas, and also the natives of the United Kingdom who were serving abroad at the date of the Census in the Army, the Navy, and the Merchant Service, we have a total of 35,241,482 persons. This was 3,396,103 in excess of the population in 1871, the increase being equivalent to an average daily addition of 929 persons to the community throughout the decade, the similar daily increase in the preceding decade having been 692.

The decennial rate of increase was no less than 10.7 per cent., which was considerably higher than the rate of increase in any of the three preceding decades, in which it had been successively 2.5, 5.7 and 8.6 per cent.

This gradual rise of the rate of increase was due in the main, though not entirely, to the fact that the decrease of the population of Ireland, which in 1841-51 was at the rate of 19.8 per cent., has become less and less in each succeeding decennium. The decrease in this division of the Kingdom was, as already stated, no less than 19.8 per cent. in 1841-51; it fell in the next decade to 11.8 per cent.; in the next to 6.7 per cent.; and finally in the decade ending with the Census of 1881 to 4.4 per cent. The population of Ireland decreased in the whole interval between 1841 and 1881 by 3,021,761 persons, or 36.9 per cent. The decrease in the final decade was of 237,541 persons, or at the rate of 4.4 per cent.

To this loss of population in Ireland must be further added a loss of 2,894 persons in the population of the Channel Islands, which fell off 3.2 per cent. in the decade 1871-81, having previously remained almost stationary since 1851; before which date it had increased much more rapidly than the population of the rest of the United Kingdom.

The population of the Isle of Man also showed a slight decline. In 1871 it numbered 54,042 persons; but in 1881 the number had fallen to 53,558.

The increase, therefore, in the aggregate population of the United Kingdom and the Islands in the British Seas was entirely confined to Great Britain, that is to say, to England, Wales, and Scotland. In England and Wales the rate of increase was 14.4 per cent., and in Scotland 11.1 per cent.; and in each case the rate of increase was higher than it had been in any of the three preceding decades. The gains and losses in the respective sub-divisions were as follows:—

—	Increase.	Decrease.
England and Wales	3,262,173
Scotland	375,555
Ireland	—	237,541
Channel Islands	—	2,894
Isle of Man	—	484
Army, Navy, &c. Abroad	—	706
Total	3,637,728	241,625
Total increase= 3,396,103.

2. Natives of the United Kingdom abroad at the time of the Census.

Of the 34,884,848 persons forming the population of the United Kingdom (excluding the Islands in the British Seas, and the Army, Navy, and Merchant Seamen, abroad) 34,535,095 were born within its limits; while 349,753 were born abroad, namely, 145,863 in British Colonies or Dependencies, and 203,890 in Foreign States.

Against these 349,753 persons born out of the country who were in the United Kingdom at the time of the Census, must be put the natives of the United Kingdom who at that date were living abroad. The returns of these were necessarily somewhat imperfect. From those countries in which regular Censuses are taken accurate accounts were received by us. But the Consular or other returns from countries in which no such systematic enumerations are made could of course be only approximative estimates. As, however, the great bulk of our fellow countrymen abroad were in countries where regular Censuses are taken, the possible errors from mistaken estimates in other parts may be neglected as practically insignificant when merged in the grand total. There were, then, according to the returns received by us, 3,959,899³ natives of the United Kingdom living out of the country at the date of the Census. These, with the 34,535,095 who were enumerated in the country itself, make up a total of 38,494,994 persons born in the United Kingdom, and alive on April 4, 1881.

Of the 3,959,899 natives of the United Kingdom who were abroad, 89,798 were in India, and 988,934 were in some other of our colonies or dependencies, while the remaining 2,881,167 were in the dominions of foreign powers. Of these 2,881,167 persons, the great bulk, namely 2,772,169, were in the United States, and consisted of 745,978 natives of England and "Wales, 170,136 natives of Scotland, and 1,854,571 natives of Ireland, while the precise nationality of the remaining 1,484 was not specified. The natives of England and Wales enumerated in the United States had increased in the interval between 1870 and 1880 by 19.3 per cent., and the natives of Scotland by 20.8 per cent., while, as might have been anticipated from the emigration returns, the natives of Ireland had slightly fallen off in number. As compared with the contingent furnished by the United Kingdom to the United States, the number of our fellow countrymen in any other foreign state, or in all other foreign states together, was quite insignificant. There were in all but 108,998 of these, of whom 36,447 were in France, 11,139 in the German Empire, 7,230 in Italy, and 5,007 in Russia, these four countries being those in which the British-born sojourners were most numerous.

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¹ For tables relating to the United Kingdom, and to natives of the United Kingdom who were abroad at the date of the Census, see Appendix A., Tables 33-46.

² The enumeration in the Isle of Man and in the Channel Islands was carried out under the directions of the authorities of those Islands. The results were tabulated under our superintendence, but were kept distinct from those of the English and Welsh Census, and published as a separate volume.

³ The natives of the United Kingdom serving in the Army, Navy, and Merchant Seamen abroad are included in this total.

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