How did the population growth help the industrial revolution?

Answer 1

Introduction

Between 1750 and 1900, the population of Britain vastly increased. There was an estimated amount of seven million in 1750 and then in 1900 the population had increased to an amazing 40 million! There are only 3 possible ways for this population to increase,

· The number of births increased

· The number of deaths decreased

· The number of immigrants increased

Historians know that after 1750 the number of people moving to Britain was similar to the number of people leaving; this means that Immigration couldn't have caused the number of population to increase; this leaves the two other reasons.

In this essay, I will show you how and why the population increased.

Increased Births

There are a number of ways for the number of births to increase,

Reason number 1: After 1750 more people got married younger, therefore the population increased because couples had more time together to have children. This was important because it was seen as unacceptable for people to have children outside of marriage at this time.

Reason number 2: After 1750 there was a large improvement for pregnant women, therefore there was a less of a chance of the baby coming out strong and healthy. This led to more children that were mentally stable and grew up to have more children

Reason number 3: After 1800 there was a lot more factories, and they started to employ young children, the parents knew that the children would earn them money so they sent them off to work at the factories; as a result couples had more children so that the kids would earn them money. This was important because couples couldn't usually afford children back in 1750, but when the children got a bit older they earn money for their parents.

Decreased deaths

Like increased births, the number of decreased deaths was caused by a number of reasons, and here they are:

Reason 1: In 1800 cotton started to replace wool as Britain's most popular cloth, as a result people bought cotton more because it was softer and much easier to wash, therefore regular washing would kill germs.

Reason 2: In 1796, Edward Jenner discovered how to vaccinate smallpox, the most deadly disease in 1750, as a result of finding the vaccination it became compulsory for children to take it, therefore smallpox disappeared and that was a huge achievement which caused a lot more people to live longer.

Reason 3: After 1800 cheap soap became available, this caused people to be able to wash more (even though people didn't know germs caused disease), this lead to people being more clean and germ-free.

Reason 4: After 1860s, councils began to clean up their towns and cities and provide the people of their town clean, fresh water supplies; this meant that people got the clean water they need to survive, rather than dirty water that could make people ill, this meant that more people were healthier and weren't ill.

Conclusion

The main causes for the population to increase were Edward Jenner creating a vaccination for smallpox, Soap becoming cheap for citizens and people marrying at a younger age.

Answer 2

In a nut shell because more things could be manufactured in a quicker time that before. Food was one of them which led to the population rising.

Domestic Industry preceded the industrial revolution. Domestic industry was when individual households did their own manufacture of wares which they then sold on. It was usually a heridary trade passed from generation to generation and had lasted for hundreds of years. Domestic industry was very labour intensive in that it required alot of direct human input to produce the goods in question.

The industrial revolution was marked by the introduction of machinery and technologies which could do the work of several people in a much shorter time. This begin to apply to all walks of industry - agriculture, textiles etc. As the industrial revolution gained pace more and more people found it harder to get employment in rural areas and moved to inner cities were people were required to operate the machinery. In turn mining also became a hugh industry as more resources were needed to service and build the machines.

The recurring effect of all this was that larger outputs helped service the growing population which in turn got employed in mills, factories etc which then led to greater outputs - leading to greater population etc etc etc.

Answer 3

Population growth contributed to the industrial revolution through supply and demand. More people were needing to be accommodated so it lead to more people being able to have jobs, which created growth in businesses and production. This all contributes to the nations economy, which lead to greater national wealth which leads to more prosperous people.