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Prussia disaggregated: the demography of its universe of localities in 1871

Author

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  • Becker, Sascha O.
  • Cinnirella, Francesco

Abstract

We provide, for the first time, a detailed and comprehensive overview of the demography of more than 50,000 towns, villages, and manors in 1871 Prussia. We study religion, literacy, fertility, and group segregation by location type (town, village, and manor). We find that Jews live predominantly in towns. Villages and manors are substantially segregated by denomination, whereas towns are less segregated. Yet, we find relatively lower levels of segregation by literacy. Regression analyses with county-fixed effects show that a larger share of Protestants is associated with higher literacy rates across all location types. A larger share of Jews relative to Catholics is not significantly associated with higher literacy in towns, but it is in villages and manors. Finally, a larger share of Jews is associated with lower fertility in towns, which is not explained by differences in literacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Becker, Sascha O. & Cinnirella, Francesco, 2020. "Prussia disaggregated: the demography of its universe of localities in 1871," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(3), pages 259-290, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:demeco:v:86:y:2020:i:3:p:259-290_3
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    Cited by:

    1. Sascha O. Becker & Jared Rubin & Ludger Woessmann, 2024. "Religion and Growth," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1094-1142, September.
    2. Sascha O. Becker & Cheongyeon Won, 2021. "Jesus Speaks Korean: Christianity and Literacy in Colonial Korea," Rivista di storia economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 7-32.
    3. Radost Holler & Paul Ivo Schäfer, 2021. "Norm Prevalence and Interdependence: Evidence from a Large-Scale Historical Survey of German speaking Villages," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 118, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    4. Abramitzky, Ran & Halaburda, Hanna, 2020. "Were Jews in interwar Poland more educated?," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(3), pages 291-304, September.
    5. Sascha O. Becker & Jared Rubin & Ludger Woessmann, 2020. "Religion in Economic History: A Survey," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 480, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    6. Brainerd, Elizabeth & Malkova, Olga, 2025. "How Religion Mediates the Fertility Response to Maternity Benefits," IZA Discussion Papers 18081, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Tommy Krieger, 2024. "Elites and health infrastructure improvements in industrializing regimes," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 433-468, September.
    8. Seung-Hun Chung & Neha Deopa & Kritika Saxena & Lyman Stone, 2025. "Religiously inspired baby boom: evidence from Georgia," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-31, March.
    9. Tommy Krieger, 2022. "Elites and Health Infrastructure Improvements in Industrializing Regimes," CESifo Working Paper Series 9808, CESifo.
    10. Eduardo Gutiérrez & Enrique Moral‐Benito & Daniel Oto‐Peralías & Roberto Ramos, 2023. "The spatial distribution of population in Spain: An anomaly in European perspective," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 728-750, June.
    11. Krieger, Tommy, 2020. "Elite structure and the provision of health-promoting public goods," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-064, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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