AP European History
Demographic Trends in European
History
Late Medieval Family Trends
(1250-1300)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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Agricultural Economy
Beginning of
International Trade
Skilled artisans start to
become important in
towns.
Renaissance Gender Trends
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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)
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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
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Steady but slow growth of the
population, except during the Thirty
Years’ War.
High birth & death rates still existed.
Early Modern Class Trends
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Continued family fragmentation in
urban areas, while rural families
remained the same.
Age of marriage dropped in urban
areas.
19th Century Population Trends
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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
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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
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Factory system all over Western Europe
Cottage industries began in Central
Europe
Eastern Europe & Russia remained
agricultural.
19th Century Production
Trends
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Industrial diversification all over Europe.
Tremendous growth in technology,
transportation, and communications,
especially in Western Europe.
19th Century Gender Trends
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Women still working to achieve equal
rights, but much progress has been
made.
19th Century Gender Trends
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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
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Nuclear Families
Smaller Families
Women gained more power in families,
but working mothers were still frowned
upon.
1900-1960 Population Trends
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Birth Rate dropped.
Population growth slowed in Western
Europe, but not in Eastern Europe.
1900-1960 Class Trends
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Very slow, almost zero population
growth rate in Europe.
1960-Present Class Trends
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Class inequalities are based on wealth
and political power.
1960-Present Production
Trends
1960-Present Gender Trends