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CHAP. XII.: Of the Number of Males and Females in different Countries. - Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, Complete Works, vol. 2 The Spirit of Laws [1748]

Edition used:

The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Evans, 1777), 4 vols. Vol. 2.

Part of: Complete Works of Montesquieu, 4 vols.

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CHAP. XII.

Of the Number of Males and Females in different Countries.

I HAVE already observed, that there are born in Europe rather more boys than girls. It has been remarked, that in * Japan there are born rather more girls than boys: all things compared, there must be more fruitful women in Japan than in Europe, and consequently it must be more populous.

We are informed , that at Bantam there are ten girls to one boy. A disproportion like this must cause the number of families there, to be to the number of those of other climates, as 1 to 5½; which is a prodigious difference. Their families may be much larger indeed; but there must be few men in circumstances sufficient to provide for so large a family.

[]Book xvi. chap. 4.

[* ]See Kempfer, who gives a computation of the people of Meaco.

[]Collection of Voyages that contributed to the establishment of the East India company, vol. 1. p. 347.