AP European History

Demographic Trends in European History

Late Medieval Family Trends (1250-1300)

Married young due to short average life span of 35 years.

Lived in extended families in which the old were cared for by younger relatives.

Large families were needed to work in the fields.

Late Medieval Population Trends

Population growth was small due to a high birth rate and a high death rate.

Population trends depended upon crops and disease.

Late Medieval Class Trends

Western Europe: the four existing classes were clergy, nobility, peasants/serfs, & merchants/skilled artisans.

Eastern Europe: the three existing classes were clergy, nobility, & peasants/serfs.

Late Medieval Production Trends

Agricultural economy dominated Europe.

Some small artisans existed, as needed.

A growing merchant class began to emerge by the end of this period.

Late Medieval Gender Trends

Men dominated society and family life. Only men & royal women went to school. A woman’s only outlet for educational &

social growth was to become a nun. Women of the nobility were expected to

coordinate activities on the estate. Poor women were expected to work in the

fields and take care of their households.

Renaissance Family Trends (1350-1550)

Similar to the Medieval Period. Married young due to short

average life span of 35-40 years. Still lived in extended families in

which the old were cared for by younger relatives.

Large families still were needed to work in the fields.

Renaissance Population Trends

Population growth was still small due to a high birth rate and a high death rate.

Population trends depended upon crops, disease, and war.

Renaissance Class Trends Eastern Europe: existing three

classes were the clergy, nobility, & peasants/serfs.

Western Europe: clergy, nobility, merchants (beg. of the modern middle class), peasants, serfs, and artisans (who become the urban working class).

Renaissance Production Trends

Agricultural Economy Beginning of

International Trade Skilled artisans start

to become important in towns.

Renaissance Gender Trends

Women’s roles in Catholic areas remained the same as in the medieval period.

In Protestant areas, women could not become nuns, so higher education was almost completely eliminated for women.

Early Modern Family Trends (1500-1700)

Age of marriage rose due to the need to establish a trade to support a family.

Families still lived in extended groups either on farms or in cottage industries.

Early Modern Population Trends

Steady but slow growth of the population, except during the Thirty Years’ War.

High birth & death rates still existed.

Early Modern Class Trends Class structures remained

essentially the same, but the middle class was growing much more powerful in both size and economic clout.

Early Modern Production Trends

Agricultural Economy Cottage Industries began to

dominate production in W. Europe by about 1600.

Merchant trade and shipping was very important in nations on the Atlantic seaboard.

Early Modern Gender Trends

More educational opportunities for women in merchant class or upper class homes.

Even upper class women were rarely allowed to go to the universities.

Those families who could afford higher education for their daughters sent them to finishing school.

18th Century Family Trends

Europe outside of England remained the same as the early modern period.

England was different by the end of the century due to the Industrial Revolution.

In England, families who moved to the city became fragmented due to the factory system. No longer did they all work at the same place &

see each other all day long. In England, many elderly persons died with

no one to care for them.

18th Century Population Trends

High population growth all over Europe, because more family members meant more income, both on the farm and at the factory.

18th Century Class Trends Eastern & Central Europe: Same as

previous periods. France: Still 3 estates, but the middle

class brought an end to this in the revolution.

England: the landed aristocracy controlled it politically, the middle class controlled it economically, & the urban workers were exploited. England was a “squirarchy.”

18th Century Production Trends

Agricultural economy with many cottage industries in the west.

In England, the growth of the factory system after 1750 revolutionized production and transportation.

18th Century Gender Trends

Eastern & Central Europe remained the same.

England: more education for all children, & upper class women can go to college to study liberal arts.

England: lower class women exploited in factories & some became wet nurses or prostitutes to make a living.

England: Women became more independent and could inherit property without remarriage.

19th Century Family Trends Continued family fragmentation in

urban areas, while rural families remained the same.

Age of marriage dropped in urban areas.

19th Century Population Trends

Fast population growth as the death rate began to fall due to better medicine, sanitation, etc.

The birth rate began to fall by the end of the century, but not the overall population growth rate.

19th Century Class Trends Western Europe began to resemble

England, due to industrialization. Western Europe began to have a

split between the upper and lower middle class.

Eastern Europe remained feudal in character.

19th Century Production Trends

Factory system all over Western Europe

Cottage industries began in Central Europe

Eastern Europe & Russia remained agricultural.

19th Century Production Trends

Industrial diversification all over Europe.

Tremendous growth in technology, transportation, and communications, especially in Western Europe.

19th Century Gender Trends

Women still working to achieve equal rights, but much progress has been made.

19th Century Gender Trends

Women still dominated legally by their husbands, even in Western Europe.

Women in Western nations actively attempted to achieve women’s suffrage.

Women held many “pink-collar” jobs.

1900-1960 Family Trends

Nuclear Families Smaller Families Women gained more power in

families, but working mothers were still frowned upon.

1900-1960 Population Trends

Birth Rate dropped. Population growth slowed in

Western Europe, but not in Eastern Europe.

1900-1960 Class Trends Legal differences between classes

disappeared after WWI and the Russian Revolution, but inequality existed economically & politically.

Communist party elites became the “new nobility” of Eastern Europe & the USSR.

1900-1960 Production Trends

Industrialization of the USSR & parts of Eastern Europe occurred.

Strong industrial base existed in Western Europe.

Production was disrupted by two world wars.

Eastern Europe remained predominantly agricultural.

1900-1960 Gender Trends Women gained voting rights as a

result of WWI in most nations of Europe.

Women began to work for equal rights in society & the workplace.

1960-Present Family Trends

More women working, otherwise the same as 1900-1960.

Birth control pills gave women more control over reproductive issues.

Smaller families resulted.

1960-Present Population Trends

Very slow, almost zero population growth rate in Europe.

1960-Present Class Trends Class inequalities are based on

wealth and political power.

1960-Present Production Trends

1960-Present Gender Trends