ABSTRACT
Perhaps the chief characteristic of our European type of civilization is the unmistakable shift from a rural to an urban way of life. Let us see what has happened in four of the chief nations of the world. In the United Kingdom it was natural that the change from rural to urban life should take place earlier than in most other countries. If we accept the proportion of 50 : 50 per cent as marking this change, then 1850 was the date when the United Kingdom crossed this ‘Rubicon’. In Germany it took place about 1895, in the United States about 1918, while France is just entering the condition where the city dwellers equal the rural dwellers. These changes are illustrated in the graph which appears as Fig. 44. It is very significant that for many years Australia has been ‘urbanized. Although it is a young country it can no longer be termed pioneer, since for many years more than 60 per cent of Australians have lived in the large cities. Indeed today nearly 70 per cent are city dwellers, and in four of the States (Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia) the capital city includes approximately half the people of the State.
