Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

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166 DANTZIG. municipal electrical works and public slaughter-house on the east. Generally speaking, the working classes of Dantzig seem inclined to choose a dwelling either in the immediate neighbourhood of these various works or else in the Old Town, rather than in the new suburbs which have sprung up on the north and west since the removal of the fortifications in these directions. This is a point to which further reference will be made later. Meanwhile it may be observed that the whole urban or municipal area of present-day Dantzig extends far beyond the lines of * the present fortifications ; the maintenance of these defences is a serious obstacle to the erection of houses within certain zones which are subject to what are known as the Rayonsgesetze or laws regulating the erection of houses within a fortified area. Thus while the urban district of Dantzig comprises an area of 7,874 acres, only 1,396 or a little more than one-sixth of this space is occupied by houses, and 500 acres by roads, streets and railways. On the other hand there are 1,020 acres of land used for military purposes, and only 20 acres of public parks and gardens. It is not to be supposed from this that the people of Dantzig have very restricted facilities for open-air recreation. The contrary is indeed the case, for there are large tracts of woodland owned by the municipality within easy reach of the town and kept in their natural state for the benefit of the inhabitants. The sea can be reached by train, electric tramway or steamboat for a few pence in less than an hour, and that these facilities are extensively used is evident from the fact that during a Sunday in summer the railways alone have taken from 26,000 to 28,000 passengers to and from the sea in the direction either of Neufahrwasser (the port of Dantzig) or of Zoppot, a sea-bathing resort a few miles further west along the Baltic shore. As regards the growth of population Dantzig ranks low among the great cities of Germany. At the Census of 1905 it was found to contain 159,648 inhabitants, the mean population being estimated as 158,300. The following Table shows the mean population, together with the birth and death rates and rate of natural increase of the population of Dantzig for the 15 years, 1891-1905 :— Year. Mean Population. Birth rate per 1,000 of mean Population. Death-rate per 1,000 of mean Population. Rate of Infantile Mortality per 1,000 Births. 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 3900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 121,140 122,380 123,390 124,310 125,230 127,400 130.300 133,270 136,560 139,530 142,790 146,240 153.300 156,100 158.300 35 7 321 331 331 32 8 33 4 334 342 362 34 2 35 8 361 343 334 331 254 22 7 26- 7 24-0 25 6 21-8 25 7 22-2 23-3 27- 9 23 6 22- 3 22-6 216 23- 3 269 259 299 264 295 245 303 243 266 320 266 209 244 220 246 In 1881 the mean population was 109,280, so that in the period of 25 years the increase in the population has been less than 50 per cent. While the birth and death rates show considerable fluctuations, the general tendency of both has been to decline, the latter more noticeably than the former. Dantzig has still a somewhat high rate of infant mortality ; it will be seen that the figures for the last five years show a considerable decline, the mean of the rates for 1901-5 being 237, as against 277 for 1891-5 and 275 for 1896-1900. In the matter of drainage and water supply Dantzig is in advance of many larger cities in Germany. Indeed, with respect to the former it claims to have been the first city on the Continent to introduce a trunk system of drainage.

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