Population distribution in Europe (1500-1750)

During the European Modern Age, the distribution of population among the different countries of the continent diverged according to their size, population characteristics, demography and socio-economic system. In general terms, the urban world grew quantitatively between 1500 and 1750 in most Western countries, although with varying intensity. England was the most developed in this respect; a development, however, that was already present in some Mediterranean countries, such as Spain and Italy, and others in the north, such as Belgium and the Netherlands. Despite urban growth, the great evolution that the author identifies in relation to population is the exponential development of the non-agricultural rural world. In fact, if in 1500 there were 152 rural nuclei of this type, in 1750 they rose to 236, in contrast to the decrease in the agricultural sphere, from 612 in 1500 to 505 in the middle of the 18th century. The transformation of the rural world was, once again, uneven across the continent. While England, Germany, France, Austria/Hungary and Poland were the communities that most experienced this process, Italy and Spain experienced it with less incidence. In short, the distribution of population in modern Europe meant that the countries where the agricultural revolution developed the earliest grew at the quantitative levels that were already present in the Mediterranean areas.

Collection: Statistics

Project: 3. Rural world and urban world in the formation of the European identity., 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe.

Chronology: XVI, XVII, XVIII

Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University

Link: https://revistas.usal.es/index.php/Studia_Historica/article/view/1508/1573

Resource type: Statistics

Format: Table

Source: Saavedra, P. (2007). "La historia rural. Ayer y hoy", en Studia Historica, vol. 29, p. 25.

Language: Spanish

Date: 2007

Owner: Pablo Ballesta Fernández (Modernalia)

Abstract: Table showing the evolution of urban, rural non-agricultural and agricultural population in the most important countries and communities of modern Europe

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