Chapter 835 A Country with a Large Population

In fact, Franz's immigration policy was very attractive, at least several times better than that of other countries, but the people's attitude towards colonies did not change.

Most people still regarded other continents as wild places, but that was only when people's lives were acceptable.

At this time, when they were hungry and even went to prison, many people were not so particular.

In order to get a resettlement fee for their families, or for their brothers and sisters to have a good betrothal gift or dowry, they were willing to go to an unknown continent and gamble their lives.

So a large number of Germans began to go abroad and travel around the world with the merchant ships of the Austrian colonies.

Many people had written their wills before leaving, but soon they would find that things were not as bad as they thought, but in a sense, they were more terrible than they imagined.

However, most of the immigrants attracted by the Austrian Empire this time were sent to the Crown of St. Stephen. After all, there was a lot of land here and it was fertile enough to feed a large population.

Moreover, Franz also felt that it was safer to have enough people. After all, as the region most affected by the storm in history, Hungary would inevitably set off a bloody storm.

He did not want the precious German immigrants to be buried in the bloody storm, but they had to endure the test, because only in this way could they be beaten into real Austrians.

The number of workers in this batch of German immigrants was very large, because the industries outside the Austrian Empire were affected by the financial crisis.

Austria was less affected by the existence of the central bank, at least there would not be such an outrageous situation as the capital chain breaking.

Secondly, more than 50% of Austria's factories were in the hands of the royal family, that is, Franz, and the production capacity of these factories accounted for more than 90% of Austria, and most factories relied on technological innovation to maintain their competitiveness.

However, it was precisely because of this that Austria did not have a great demand for cheap labor, and Franz could only make them construction workers to prepare for the expansion of production capacity in the future, and produce some durable goods as strategic reserves.

The working conditions in Austria were actually much better than those in other German states, because there was a lot of "rest" time.

During the "rest" time, there will be special pastors or preachers to give them lectures. They need to learn German, history, common sense, and courses on loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, and even take exams.

In addition, selecting and distinguishing immigrants is also a technical job. Honest people with families are classified into one category, and the elderly and skilled workers are classified into the second category.

The third category is young single women and children under the age of 16, and the fourth category is men who are alone and have no skills.

This is actually distinguishing the level of danger. Honest people with families have the most things to take into account, and they are also the most obedient, so they are easier to manage.

Relatively speaking, the elderly and skilled workers are more eager for a stable life. Even if they encounter some injustice, they can endure it. The former have little time left, and the latter have skills and feel that they will have a day sooner or later.

Single women and children do not have much resistance, but their ability to make trouble is not bad at all, so they are classified as the third category.

The most dangerous are men who are alone and have no practical skills. They need to be sent to the army or less important factories first, and their behavior should be restrained by discipline and collectivism.

Secondly, Catholics are safer than Protestants. This is not because Franz has any prejudice.

Rather, the Thirty Years' War of Religion caused the entire Holy Roman Empire to lose half of its adult males, more than 30% of its population.

The conflict between the two sides is not so easy to resolve. Although the Austrian Empire declared freedom of religion at that time, more than 90% of its citizens believed in Catholicism.

Many of the nobles in the local area and the army have been passed down for hundreds of years. Their ancestors were killed by Protestants, and not everyone can give up hatred, especially when they are strong and the enemy is weak.

So Franz acquiesced to some actions of the church and the government. The church naturally preached and converted religions, showing the goodwill (strength) of the Austrian church, and at the same time, presenting facts and reasoning, telling immigrants the benefits of doing so.

If they still stayed in their original place, they might not easily change their ideas, but at this time, they were out of their familiar environment. People's nature is to seek benefits and avoid harm, and it is easy to change under coercion and inducement.

The government requires the registration of immigrants' religions. In fact, this is also for the convenience of management. They must ensure that the proportion of Protestants in any community does not exceed 20%, so that it is not easy to cause confrontation.

As for the extra population, they can be sent to the colonies. After all, there are stronger foreign enemies there, so they have no time to fight.

Soon a report was placed on Franz's desk. It was an estimate of the immigrant population in 1847. The number of immigrants absorbed in 1847 may exceed 2.4 million, which is equivalent to the total of the previous six years.

Since Franz's statistical bureau began to operate in 1836, the number of immigrants from Germany to Austria has accumulated more than five million people.

By the end of 1847, the population of the Austrian Empire is expected to exceed 49 million (38.5 million in the same period in history), the population of Germany will be close to 15 million, the population of Italy will be 12 million, and the population of Hungary will still be around 6.5 million.

Of the remaining 14.5 million people, the largest number was Czechs, at 4.5 million (including Bohemians, Moravians, and Slovaks).

1.5 million Poles, 1 million Ukrainians, 3 million Croatians, 570,000 Serbs, 1.6 million Slovenes, 100,000 Montenegrins, and 2.33 million Transylvanians.

In addition, Austria had millions of Jews and hundreds of thousands of Roma (Gypsies), but they were not considered human beings by European statisticians at the time.

The actual population of the Austrian Empire would have exceeded 50 million, more than the combined population of France and Spain.

France 35 million, Spain 13 million, Britain 28 million, the United States 22 million, Mexico 5.6 million, and Prussia 18 million.

Although Austria absorbed many people from the German Confederation, the total population of the German Confederation actually increased compared with the same period in history, with a total population of 35 million (34 million in the same period in history).

Because if Austria had not absorbed these people, they would have flowed to the United States and British colonies and become their cornerstones.

In addition, Russia had 76 million people and the Ottoman Empire had 33 million people. Austria was already the second most populous country in Europe and the fourth in the world.

France had 35 million people, Britain had 27 million people, Spain had 13 million people, and the United States had 21 million people.

Due to constant wars (civil war, foreign war, and loss of land), Mexico's population was even smaller than the same period in history, with only 5.5 million people.

Ottoman Empire had 33 million people, Brazil had 6.6 million people, Argentina had 1.8 million people, Persia had 13 million people, Serbia had 950,000 people, Denmark had 1.5 million people, Portugal had 3.7 million people, Sweden had 3.4 million people, Egypt had 5.3 million people, Afghanistan had 2.5 million people, and the Sikh Empire had 12 million people.

Luxembourg's land area increased threefold and its population increased 1.5 times to 470,000 people due to the acquisition of Limburg and Western Luxembourg.

There are estimates of Russia's population ranging from 67 million to 83 million, and the average here is 75 million.