+-----------+------------------------------------+ | | Times in which such rate occurred. | | Per Cent. |-----------------+------------------+ | | Town Districts. | Rural Districts. | +-----------+-----------------+------------------+ | Increase. | | | | 30 | 3 | -- | | 25-30 | 2 | -- | | 20-25 | 10 | 1 | | 15-20 | 33 | 2 | | 11-15 | 65 | -- | | 9-11 | 55 | 4 | | 5-9 | 50 | 35 | | 3-5 | 8 | 69 | | 1-3 | -- | 56 | | 0-1 | 1 | 28 | | Decrease. | | | | 1-0 | 1 | 18 | | 3-1 | -- | 22 | | 5-3 | -- | 3 | | 0-5 | -- | 4 | +-----------+-----------------+------------------+ --------------------+------------+------------+------------------ German Empire. | 1871. | 1886. | Rate of Increase. --------------------+------------+------------+------------------ Towns over 100,000 | 1,968,000 | 3,327,000 | 69 per cent. " " 20,000 | 3,147,000 | 4,147,000 | 31 " " " 5,000 | 4,588,000 | 5,694,000 | 24 " " " 2,000 | 5,086,000 | 5,734,000 | 12 " Rural Population | 26,219,000 | 26,318,000 | 3 " --------------------+------------+------------+------------------ But the movement is by no means confined to the densely-populated countries of Europe. If we turn to the "new world" we find it illustrated still more remarkably. In the United States of America, long before the population approached its present height, and while large tracts of fertile land still remained to be parcelled out, the towns began to absorb more and more of the population. The following diagram will show this movement to have been continuous, and with a gathering momentum as the century moved on:-- [Illustration: GROWTH OF CITY POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES.] What holds of the United States holds also of the newly settled countries with small populations, as New South Wales, Victoria, Canada, and even Manitoba,[273] Argentina, and Uruguay. Nearly one-third of the whole population of New South Wales is resident in Sydney, and a fourth of the population of Queensland in Brisbane. Victoria presents the most striking case. In 1881 its four largest towns contained more than two-fifths of the whole population, Melbourne alone holding one-third.