Growth of Cities in the Latter 19th Century

Between 1800 and 1900 the population of Europe continued to shoot up, rising from approximately 188 million people in 1800 to more than 400 million by the end of the century. This rise in the number of people took place primarily because of the more efficient production of food due to commercial farming, which meant fewer food shortages in any given region.

After about 1860, most of this population growth took place in cities. In 1800, only 3% of the European population lived in cities of more than 300,000 people. One hundred years later, 12% of the population lived in cities this period was the first time in European history that such a change had taken place.

These growing cities included London, England; Paris, France; and Berlin, Germany. Such cities had been built hundreds of years ago for much smaller populations. Most cities in Europe had been walled, which limited how many buildings there could be and how tall the buildings could be built. The result was that the cities were not equipped to handle such a dramatic rise in population. The number of people exceeded what could handled by the existing houses and apartments, jobs, seats in churches, water supply, police force, etc.