ABSTRACT
Growth of the population consists in the excess of births over deaths in the community, not taking into account the possible gain or loss caused by immigration or emigration, that is, the natural increase of the population. This phenomenon is the most significant of vital statistical phenomena, more significarit than emigration or immigration, for judging the state of the community. It is perhaps the most complex of vital statistical phenomena as it is influenced by the marriage rate, birth rate, and death rate a t the same time. Besides, it is closely bound with economic conditions, and it may be taken as indicating the state of economic equilibrium of the community. As production is the basis of consumption, so consumption influences through the standard of life the above three vital phenomena, and the rate of natural increase may run parallel with consumptive capacity, or the consumptive capacity may reach a point where a proportionate increase of the rate of natural increase cannot go on without endangering the standard of life of the community. So the growth of population
is closely bound with the state of consumption, and therefore production and the balancing tendencies are continuously interacting.
