Urban population in Germany, 1500 - 1850 Ulrich Pfister† 90/2020 † Department of Economics, University of Münster, Germany wissen•leben WWU Münster Urban population in Germany, 1500–1850 Ulrich Pfister University of Münster Department of Economics Institute of Economic and Social History Domplatz 20-22 D-48147 Münster
[email protected] April 14, 2020 Abstract In situations where few data are available to document economic activity, the size of the urban population is a valuable indicator for economic development and the spatial pattern of an economy. This study improves the basis for investigations into the quan- titative urban history of Germany by constructing a novel database of the population size of 412 cities that had at least 5000 inhabitants between 1500 and 1850. Compared with earlier databases it uses a considerably larger body of sources, and it improves the resolution of data by interpolating and extrapolating annual series. The resulting series of total urban population is consistent with recent work on aggregate demo- graphic trends in Germany. The trajectory of the urbanization rate shows that Ger- many began its transition from stagnation to growth around 1800, several decades be- fore the onset of industrialization. Regional urbanization rates converged (rather than diverged) in 1815/19–1858, that is, during the transition to the first stage of industrial- ization. Discussion of individual regional histories suggests state formation, (proto- )industrialization and regional population density as possibly relevant determinants of urban growth in the area and time period studied. Keywords: Urban growth, economic development, economic demography. JEL classification: N13, N33, N93, O47. Contents 1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................