The Industrial Revolution: Part 3

The Population Boom

One of the main causes for the industrial revolution was the population boom. Since the 1600’s the population had been growing at an ever-increasing rate.  In 1700 the population was approximately 5.5 million and then it increased to 5.8 million in 1750, the population then rose to 9 million in 1801 – a rise of 38 per cent between 1750 and 1801; London and Cardiff’s population alone increased by 500%. From the 1770’s, agricultural changes and good harvests reduced the price of food and this benefited childbearing women who were better able to rear healthy children. As a result of this, the birth rate was rising, people seemed to be marrying younger, and family size was increasing. In 1700 the average age of women marrying was 26- by 1800 it had fallen to 23, while the quantity of women who did not marry more than halved.

People were shocked at this population rise and some people argued that if the population boom continued there would be famines (shortages of food), there would be a shortage of places to live and the number of poor would increase.

However, these bad predictions never happened; the population growth worked harmonically with the industrial revolution and helping improvements in agriculture. The population boom also helped the industrial revolution as the need for jobs in factories and industry was ever escalating. By the increase in the workforce the market was also benefiting as more people meant more goods was needed to take care of the population, goods such as food for instance. This is how entrepreneurs benefited by making their money from a huge mass of customers. Their biggest encouragement was that they knew they could always easily sell their products because of the fast expanding market.