Population development of Bad Hersfeld

This article shows the population development of Bad Hersfeld in tabular and graphic form.

Population development

Population development in Bad Hersfeld according to the table below. Above from 1645 to 2017. Below an excerpt from 1871

The first information about residents in Hersfeld comes from the monastery. 150 monks are recorded here from the end of the 8th century. Further numbers come from the year 1005 and 1118 with 50 monks each. The first indication of a population is given by the Peststein on the town church . He states that in 1356, about 3000 residents of the city died during a plague epidemic.

The first documented census took place after the German Peasants' War in 1525, when the Hessian Landgrave of Hersfeld Abbey came to the rescue and appropriated parts of the abbey as a pledge. This year there were 400 men and nine guilds. As until well into the 19th century, only men with civil rights were counted . They were called the " house SAT " ( mhd. HUS gesëzze swm.), So you had the number of households in the city. The "sit-downs" quartered with those who were sitting at home were not counted.

The population increased slowly in the Middle Ages and the early modern period . Due to the numerous wars, epidemics and famines, it kept falling. It was not until the middle of the 19th century, when the city expanded outside the city walls and the textile and mechanical engineering industries grew considerably, that the population rose sharply.

The following overviews show the population numbers according to the respective territorial status. Up to 1748 it is mostly an extrapolated number of inhabitants (calculated with the help of death and birth rates and the number of emigrants). From 1736 (1736 and 1747, counting for the rectification of the tax base), the counting of residents began. The perforation continued to include only residents in independent households with citizenship. The population of all residents, with and without citizenship, is estimated at 3712 in 1747. The data up to 1939 come from population censuses based on inconsistent survey methods and then from the official update of the state statistical office. From 1962 the numbers come from the Bad Hersfeld residents' registration office.

In the Thirty Years War

Households between 1525 and 1681

Based on the death and birth rates, the emigration figures and the tax files from the period between 1614 and 1624, the total number of inhabitants of the city in 1614 is estimated at 3300 to 3600, it decreased in 1624 to 2900 to 3200.

After the war, in 1653, "47 desolate, previously uninhabited, also to be repaired, almost mostly unsuitable houses", 177 desolate farmsteads in the old town and 36 desolate farmsteads in the completely destroyed new town in front of the Peterstor were counted.

year households 1525 400 1543 480 1569 557 1595 668 1614 725

year households 1621 675 1624 634 1639 367 1645 209 1653 351

year households 1664 446 1673 484 1681 504 1681 606

From 1645 to 1939

(respective territorial status)

Year / date Residents 1645 1,148 1653 1,404 1664 1,784 1673 1.936 1681 2.016 1696 2,424 1736 3,054 1741 2,857 1746 3,373 1747 3,105 1755 3,100 1795 4.263 1810 5,181 1817 5,169 1822 5,781

date Residents 1823 5,806 1825 6,144 1830 6,307 1834 6,565 1840 6,553 1845 6,920 1846 6,445 1849 6.365 1850 6,379 1857 5,890 1860 5,838 1861 5,972 1867 6,290 1871 6,438 1875 6,820

date Residents 1880 7,065 1885 7,262 1890 6,758 1895 7,413 1896 7,386 1900 7,908 1905 8,688 1910 9,613 1913 10,237 1919 10,087 1925 11,372 1930 12,318 1931 12,348 1933 12,677 1939 14,665

From 1946

(respective territorial status and on the reference date 31.12 of the respective year)

As a result of the long time that it was on the edge of the zone, many young families emigrated, so the district, like many former districts on the edge of the zone, has an old population structure. This is also reflected in the city. Due to the nationwide falling birth rates and despite the central location in which Bad Hersfeld has been since 1989, this population structure has not changed significantly. The Hessen Agency is therefore assuming that the population in the district will decrease by 6 percent by 2020.

Year / date Residents 1946 19,625 1950 21,285 1955 23,175 1956 23,570 1961 23.004 1962 23,315 1974 29,305 1975 28,683 1976 28,659 1987 28,845

date Residents 1994 32,144 1996 31,361 2003 30,694 2004 30,490 2006 30,643 2007 30,411 2008 30.139 2009 29,971 2010 30,087 2011 30.164

date Residents 2012 28,772 2016 29,615 2017 29,767

Sources and Notes

• Witzel, page 70-79
• Hessian City Atlas - Bad Hersfeld, pages 35–37
• Data from the Louis-Demme-Stadtarchiv in Bad Hersfeld
• Population of the Hessian municipalities on December 31 at the Hessian State Statistical Office

1. ↑ Article in the Hersfelder Zeitung of February 9, 2007 "Background: As if Philippsthal were gone"
2. ↑ Recalculation based on the 2011 census (around 5% fewer inhabitants than in the previous year)

literature

• Hessian State Office for Regional Studies (Ed.): Hessischer Städteatlas - Bad Hersfeld , Verlagdruckerei Schmidt, Marburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-87707-649-1
• Jörk Witzel, Hersfeld 1525 to 1756, economic, social and constitutional history of a medium-sized territorial city , ISBN 3-7708-1017-1