African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 464 - 142 Population (Continued)
The first large-scale immigration wave to East Africa (excluding mercenaries) was in 1865. Since then, the number of immigrants has surged, and with the increase in East African transport capacity, the scale has grown larger and larger.
This means that the first batch of immigrants has settled in East Africa for nine years, and the nature of East African immigration has caused the current population to grow explosively.
This can be analogous to the German regions, where the fertility rate is currently quite high; East Africa’s is even higher because East Africa bears the cost of childbirth, something not feasible in German regions.
German land resources have been divided by nobles and landlords. With the development of capitalist agriculture, the focus is no longer on labor and occupancy rates but on profitability as the top priority.
Although land in East Africa is also privately owned, Ernst’s previous focus was on giving East African citizens relatively good treatment. One of the hopes was that residents would have as many children as possible, with the state bearing most of the childbirth costs.
Without the burden of childbirth, East African citizens naturally have as many children as possible, especially with no concept or means of contraception.
Basically, as long as they are healthy, the fertility rate shouldn’t be low, and with an extremely low infant mortality rate (compared to other countries), East Africa’s population will eventually multiply.
At low productivity levels, most of these costs are ultimately borne by the Black population in East Africa, with a total of 20 million where the labor force population is nearly over 10 million.
So currently, East Africa does not feel a significant pressure, but the pace of reducing the Black population in East Africa is also quite fast. If East Africa wants to continue playing this game in the future, then this part of the cost can only be transferred to new immigrants.
But new immigrants will also have to continue having children, leading to a vicious cycle. Ernst himself is a believer in population advantage theory, having said before that India’s population size will inevitably form a major power.
If East African immigrants reproduce recklessly, a family with only two workers may have to feed over a dozen mouths; it’s unrealistic to work to the bone. Of course, this might be a bit idealistic; conservatively, there should be seven or eight mouths to feed.
Besides the birth rate, immigration is also an issue. Currently, East Africa’s normal immigration level is about 250,000 per month, with over 400 ships (including leased ships and slave ships) serving East African immigration.
Over a year, East Africa receives nearly 3 million immigrants. By 1880, there could be another 10 million new immigrants.
It should be noted that although the East African government does not count the local population, it does keep a tally of immigrants each year; the number of immigrants is exact and isn’t affected by the birth rate.
This is just the immigrant population; in fact, now it only takes tens of days to sail from the Far East and Europe to East Africa. Integrating these immigrants into various arrangements in East Africa takes no more than three months.
This is the ideal immigration status, and the reality matches the ideal. The economic crisis has created opportunities for East Africa, with people immigrating from the pure immigrant nation of America to East Africa, making it imaginable for other regions around the world.
East Africa’s immigration is led by the government, with immigration agencies established in various European countries, East Asia, and South America. Therefore, the East African Immigration Bureau is the largest and most systematic immigration organization in the world and the second-largest slave trader.
Currently, besides Arab and Indian males and Blacks, all other nationalities are targets for the East African Immigration Bureau to meet East African immigration needs.
Take Germany, for instance. The Southern German region has been siphoned by East Africa for years, yet the total population hasn’t significantly decreased or increased, so East Africa’s absorption of immigrants doesn’t really harm other countries.
After all, following the industrial revolution, the world population has surged to over 1.27 billion, and the number of East African immigrants is just a drop in the bucket.
Of course, East Africa has its own national conditions, and many situations differ greatly from those in America’s immigrant nations.
Immigration is generally a spontaneous act of the people, and for the public at that time, intercontinental immigration was extremely difficult.
In America, the passage was mainly advanced by various needy companies and enterprises, then deducted from immigrants’ wages. These were clearly stated in contracts, while East Africa offers free passage, putting East Africa at an advantageous position when choosing between the two.
Next, East Africa’s marketing methods are different. East Africa focuses immigration advertisements on demonstration, primarily based on the lower-class populace and then bringing people back home. East Africa dares to do this, while America can only write stories in newspapers and carry out scams.
Finally, East African immigration isn’t limited to white people, balancing the Far East and Europe, positioning East Africa in a buyer’s market. Here, "Far East" isn’t just a national concept but indeed the real Far East.
Of course, aside from these normal means, East Africa also uses some unconventional tactics, such as reporting some true situations of American immigrants verbatim in European newspapers.
America does have a higher development ceiling, but most people are self-aware. For example, German farmers know their limits, and compared to the fantasy of making fortunes in America, East Africa offers conditions more suited to themselves.
The East African education system, in particular, should be emphasized. It plays a significant role in reducing the cost of childbirth for the populace. With the unfolding of the middle school system, the population born in East Africa spends ten years in school, with the crucial aspect being that East African schools even provide lunch.
All things considered, by 1880, the total population of East Africa at least exceeded 30 million. The specific figures will have to wait for the resumption of the population census, potentially even reaching over 40 million.
The fertility capability of humans in agrarian societies cannot be underestimated, and East Africa is an agricultural country with industrial attributes.
Instead of limiting immigration, it is more about screening immigrants. This was the initial immigration policy when East Africa began, mainly targeting drug addicts. Issues like malnutrition weren’t a concern for East Africa.
Moreover, this increased immigration restriction mainly targets German immigrants from America. After all, America is a bastion of liberalism, and East Africa, as a monarchal autocratic country, naturally needs to prevent some "decadent" ideas from America from infiltrating.
The same goes for the entire Americas, with not a single monarchal country there, making East Africa uneasy.
In fact, overall, East Africa’s investment in immigration has actually increased, for example, concerning female immigrants. East Africa is very welcoming. Last time, East Africa’s statistics showed that the female ratio was close to 47%.
A significant portion of these women who managed to come to East Africa spent money to do so. Even Indian and Green believers’ women are welcome in East Africa, except for Black people.
Overpopulation issues aren’t exclusive to East Africa. Nineteenth-century social customs afforded East Africa the convenience of buying and selling "**". In most regions, men had to inherit the family business while women’s status was low, even becoming commodities.
As they say, the wool comes from the sheep’s back; the money East Africa used to redeem women naturally came from the bachelors of East Africa, who worked to pay it back. In the early days, it was even used as a reward mechanism to boost immigration enthusiasm.
