Chapter 715 - 331: High Birth Rate, High Mortality Rate (Part 2)

Due to the population trade with Russia at the time, Spain was stirred into a frenzy of transportation fleets. Don’t underestimate the few military shipyards Spain might offer; in reality, there are quite a number of civilian shipyards.

Moreover, Spain’s geographical advantage as the western sea gate to the Mediterranean further augments its position. Currently, among the transportation fleets heading to North and South America along the Mediterranean coast, Spain controls approximately one-third.

This has led to those fleets under Spanish control frequently stopping at Spanish ports. They generally collaborate with local governments, aiming to attract some immigrants to stay in Spain and eventually become part of Spain’s population.

Since the administrative district reform in Spain, the Cabinet Government and Parliament have become more stringent in assessing the performance of various levels of government.

From the Cabinet Government to state and municipal governments, they undergo an annual performance evaluation, with the primary assessment criteria focused on population size, industrial scale, and economic total growth.

Although these evaluation criteria are somewhat vague, in this era, officials who can achieve simultaneous growth in population, industry, and the economy, even if not exceptionally outstanding, are at least above the passing line.

In this general environment, governments at all levels have become extremely attentive to population increase in their territories. However, the Spanish Government also imposes quite strict restrictions on the introduction of population, and governments at all levels cannot introduce population arbitrarily.

Firstly, all black individuals are not within the range of population introduction for Spain. Of course, this regulation currently applies only to mainland Spain; black people still have the opportunity to join the Spanish colonies and become local residents.

However, even for black population introductions in the colonies, it is quite strict. For a black person to become a colony resident recognized by Spain, they must either create enormous economic value for Spain or be technical talents needed by Spain.

In the more than ten years since Carlo became King of Spain, the number of black individuals who had the chance to become colony residents of Spain could be counted on one hand.

These black individuals could become colony residents of Spain due to their special status, such as leaders and emirs of indigenous African states. They could obtain the status of colony residents of Spain.

This aims to divide the local black class, splitting blacks into two factions: those with shared interests with Spain and those opposing.

These blacks, who became colony residents recognized by Spain, must promote Spanish colonial rule to maintain their rights, reducing local resistance.

If an entire native state explicitly opposes Spanish colonial rule, then naturally, the emir or leader of that native state also has no reason to continue existing.

From this, it is evident that even if blacks can be recognized by Spain, it is mostly due to their utility.

When these blacks lose their utility value, Spain will no longer acknowledge their rights; the owners of this land, as always, are only the Spaniards.

According to the results compiled from various cities, in the entire year of 1885, the total number of immigrants received by all cities in mainland Spain exceeded 300,000.

According to related information registered by immigration departments in various cities, among these 300,000 immigrants, Russia and Italy ranked the top two, contributing 120,000 and 80,000 immigrants to Spain, respectively.

Immigrants from Austria-Hungary ranked third, with a total scale of only about 30,000. Following them are immigrants from many countries on the Balkan Peninsula, collectively numbering around 20,000.

Then come the immigrants from Germany and France, with the combined number of immigrants from these two countries barely exceeding 10,000, highlighting Spain’s insufficient appeal to immigrants from Germany and France.

The remaining European countries collectively contributed several thousand immigrants, with Portugal offering the most, contributing over 3,000 immigrants.

If the Portuguese Government had not issued policies limiting immigration, Portugal alone might have contributed over 2,000 more immigrants.

For the great powers, losing thousands or tens of thousands of immigrants is not necessarily debilitating. But for a country like Portugal, with a population of only a few million, losing a few thousand people annually will significantly impact the country’s development.

In fact, by applying Spain’s formula for population growth rate and mortality rate to calculate Portugal’s actual population growth, it is clear that in a country like Portugal, with a population under 5 million, the actual annual population growth is less than 100,000.

Considering that the medical level and economic environment in Portugal are worse than in Spain, Portugal’s population growth might be even less.

In such circumstances, losing a few thousand people annually is enough to cause the Portuguese Government considerable distress. Moreover, these few thousand people have been lost to their only neighboring country, Spain. Doesn’t this imply that the Portuguese Government is indirectly supporting an adversary?

Although they have issued relevant immigration restriction policies, under the intimidation of the Spanish Government, the Portuguese Government still does not dare to openly restrict immigration to Spain, only indirectly obstructing it through various policies.

This is the reason why, despite announcing immigration restriction policies, more than 3,000 immigrants still migrate to Spain from Portugal every year.