Harper's Pictorial Library of the World War, Volume XII : $b The Great Results of the War
History
Harper's Pictorial Library of the World War, Volume XII : $b The Great Results of the War
League of Nations; Treaty of Versailles (1919 June 28); World War, 1914-1918; World War, 1914-1918 -- Economic aspects; World War, 1914-1918 -- Finance
"Besides the loss in actual population there is a loss of
potential population. Carefully compiled figures show that by
1919 the population of Germany will be 7,500,000 less than it
would have been under ordinary circumstances. The people in
Austria in 1919 will be 8 per cent. less in numbers than in the
year before the war. Hungary will be still worse off; it will
have a population of 9 per cent. lower than in pre-war days."
CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT'S ESTIMATES
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace made public in November,
1919, an elaborate report on the cost of the World War in human life and
in property and the consequent economic losses. The chief conclusions
derived from this intensive study of all the conditions may be
summarized as follows:
All the wars of the nineteenth century from the Napoleonic down
to the Balkan wars of 1912--1913, show a loss of life of
4,449,300, according to the report, while the known and
presumed dead of the World War reached 9,998,771. (See Vol.
III, pp. 403-5.) The monetary value of the individuals lost to
each country is estimated, the highest value on human life
being given to the United States, where each individual's
economic worth is placed at $4,720, with England next at
$4,140; Germany third, at $3,380; France and Belgium, each
$2,900; Austria-Hungary at $2,720, and Russia, Italy, Serbia,
Greece, and the other countries at $2,020.
With a loss of more than 4,000,000 the estimate puts Russia in
the lead in human economic loss, the total being more than
$8,000,000,000; Germany is next with $6,750,000,000; France,
$4,800,000,000; England, $3,500,000,000; Austria-Hungary,
$3,000,000,000; Italy, $2,384,000,000; Serbia, $1,500,000,000;
Turkey, almost $1,000,000,000; Rumania, $800,000,000; Belgium,
almost $800,000,000; the United States slightly more than
$500,000,000; Bulgaria, a little more than $200,000,000;
Greece, $75,000,000; Portugal, $8,300,000, and Japan, $600,000.
On this basis the total in human life lost cost the world
$33,551,276,280, and the loss to the world in civilian
population is placed at an equal figure.
The attempt to determine property losses is the least
satisfactory, as it is the most difficult. The destruction and
devastation in the invaded areas of Belgium, France, Russian
Poland, Serbia, Italy and parts of Austria are probably
incapable of exact determination, and it may well be doubted if
the exact losses will ever be known.
The total property loss on land is put at $29,960,000,000,
one-third of which was suffered by France alone, its loss being
given as $10,000,000,000, with Belgium next at $7,000,000,000,
and the other countries following as follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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