Holy Roman Empire

Morning sunlight gilded the earth, and the damp air carried a hint of sweetness. The yellowed trees began to sprout new buds, heralding the arrival of spring.

It was another beautiful day. After a simple breakfast, Franz began his workday by opening a report on the development of the colonies.

Normally, he wouldn’t concern himself with these details, but this time was special. Neubruck made headlines last year, catching the attention of the Austrian government.

For three consecutive years, Neubruck had a birth rate exceeding 5.1%. Aside from Russia, no other major European country could match this.

As an immigration region, it’s normal for Neubruck to have a high birth rate, but maintaining this record for three years straight drew Franz’s attention.

This era was one of a population explosion in Europe, with high birth rates across various countries.

The Russians naturally held the European championship. According to collected data, Austria’s Population Bureau determined that in the past decade or so, the lowest birth rate recorded in Russia was 4.92%, and the highest was 5.39%, with most years exceeding 5.1%.

Well, that data isn’t really comparable. An equally high death rate accompanies Russia’s high birth rate.

During this era, Russia’s normal death rate was around 3.6%, occasionally exceeding 4.0%, also the highest in Europe.

If Russia had the birth rates of ordinary countries, the Russian Empire would have been wiped out long ago.

From an overall European perspective, Austria’s performance is also commendable, with a birth rate of around 4.1%, second only to the Russians.

Looking at specific birth rates, it is clear that Central Europe’s birth rates are relatively low, with some areas dropping to 3.6%, while Southern Europe’s rates are higher, reaching up to 4.5% in some places.

The more developed the area, the lower the birth rate, which has become Franz’s biggest challenge. If this trend isn’t reversed, Austria could end up like neighboring France.

As the most open nation in Europe, France’s birth rate is typically around 2.6%, with a death rate hovering around 2.3%, resulting in a very modest growth rate.

In a later era, such a birth rate would probably make the French ecstatic. Unfortunately, it was quite unremarkable in this period, as this was an era of high fertility across Europe.

Given the high death rates, anyone not actively having children is risking extinction.

Franz had already accepted that Austria’s birth rate would not surpass Russia’s. But thanks to better medical conditions, Austria’s population growth rate managed to match that of Russia.

Franz had issued many directives encouraging higher birth rates, but the results were minimal. Most colonies also had low birth rates and high death rates, leading to very slow population growth.

With Neubruck’s population explosion, Franz naturally took notice. This was crucial for the future. If the situation in Neubruck could be replicated elsewhere, it would be a huge win.

This report was not submitted by colonial officials but was obtained by an investigation team personally dispatched by Franz.

The reason for this was simple: what if someone falsified the data?

Africa is not like Southeast Asia or the Americas, where mixed-race children might be used to inflate population figures. In those regions, producing a bunch of mixed-race children might actually work, as long as their features aren’t too distinct, making it hard to tell at a glance.

Given the ethical standards of bureaucrats, fabricating data for the sake of career advancement is too common. Thus, the birth rates in Southeast Asia and Central America have always been high. As long as it wasn’t too egregious, the Austrian government wouldn’t pursue it, but Africa didn’t have the conditions for such manipulation.

As a key area of focus, Austria’s attention to Africa exceeded that of all other colonies combined.

To ensure control over the colonies, Africa has always been under strict supervision, with limited autonomy for bureaucrats.

For example, in other colonies, the governor is responsible for both military and civil affairs. In Africa, the governor is also the highest commander but only in charge of the military, while the local government manages civil affairs.

Just because they can’t fudge the numbers doesn’t mean they can’t fake it. While colonial death rates have always been high, they have been steadily decreasing due to improved local development and medical advancements.

If bureaucrats were falsifying birth rates, inflating the birth data while using previous death rates, it would artificially increase the number of deaths.

By offsetting the inflated death numbers with the fake birth numbers, the figures would balance out on paper.

As long as the colonial death rate didn’t increase, it could be explained, and the birth rate was one of the performance metrics for local officials.

The mastermind behind this scheme was reportedly an accountant, skilled in falsifying accounts.

Currently, this individual has been reassigned by Franz to work at a nearly bankrupt state-owned mining company. They can only return to the city once the company is revived.

Talented individuals shouldn’t be wasted. If they succeed, they save a state-owned enterprise; if they fail, they will have to spend the rest of their lives as a miner.

…

After carefully reviewing the report, Franz believed that this time the data was not fabricated. The listed measures indeed seemed capable of boosting birth rates.

In Neubruck, all welfare benefits were tied to having children—the more children, the more benefits.

For example, government unemployment benefits were only available to parents who had children (with exceptions for those who had made significant contributions to the country or society).

In a very considerate move, the policy stipulated that parents with one child could receive one share of benefits, those with two children could receive two shares, and so on, with no upper limit (if one parent was unemployed, they would receive half the amount).

This was just one aspect. As an immigrant city, Neubruck provided housing through the city government, which was one of the incentives to attract immigrants.

Land was cheap, so the main cost was construction, making it feasible to provide housing. The Neubruck city government offered small houses, usually not exceeding fifty square meters.

Larger homes were deliberately priced high, almost on par with Vienna’s housing prices, making them unaffordable for ordinary people.

The government then introduced a policy: families with more than three children could enjoy a housing discount, with forty square meters added per additional child. For families with more than eight children, the government would provide free renovations and a set of furniture.

In addition to these, there were various other incentives, such as maternity leave and birth subsidies. Though the amounts were not substantial, the local government’s commitment was evident.

Even pensions were introduced. Austria had a pension system, but only those who had made significant contributions to the country were eligible to receive it.

The Neubruck city government expanded the eligibility, allowing anyone who had five or more children to qualify. This standard was based on the number of children, with a 30% increase for each additional child.

This provision could be overlooked, as the average life expectancy was still around forty years, and those who lived to sixty to receive a pension were rare.

Austria had not established a social security system for pensions, not because Franz did not value the issue, but because it was unnecessary.

Those who lived past sixty usually had decent family conditions; if they were destitute, they wouldn’t have lived that long.

A series of pro-birth measures were very unfriendly to single people, DINK families, and those with fewer children. Unless they had made significant contributions to the country, these social benefits were not available to them.

Franz even wondered if there was another time traveler involved. Perhaps someone, scared by the low birth rates of later times, implemented such extreme population stimulation measures.

Regardless, effectiveness was what mattered. As long as the people did not oppose it, Franz had no objections.

Since these measures were already implemented in Neubruck and proved effective, it meant that public resistance was not strong.

Using limited funds to stimulate birth rates and increase population growth was of great significance to Austria.

If this approach continues, Austria’s birth rate might even surpass Russia’s.

Franz seriously doubted that if this policy became a national policy, would other European countries follow suit? If everyone did the same, wouldn’t the world be in chaos?

Soon, he dismissed this worry. Even if people could give birth, they still needed to afford to raise their children. In this era, many families had five or six children, but how many could they actually support?

Before condoms, pregnancies were usually uncontrolled. Birth rates were high across countries, and so were rates of abandoned infants.

At this point, Franz suddenly realized that Austria’s compulsory education system also stimulated population growth since schools provided meals during compulsory education, reducing family expenses.

This was an unexpected delight. The initial decision to provide meals in schools was to encourage parents to send their children to school. For a long time, students had to rely on sand tables for learning.

It wasn’t until 1860 that all students had textbooks. Starting last year, students began to receive free exercise books.

Austria had the most basic compulsory education system, which would likely be glorified by many writers in the future. After all, a good story tends to be passed down.

Even now, sand tables hadn’t been discarded. Paper was still expensive, and the exercise books provided by schools couldn’t meet all the demand.

Franz immediately decided to keep this meaningful tradition of sand tables. He even considered whether to make a show of it by having his own children use it, but he ultimately decided to save face. It would seem too fake and would likely be mocked.

Franz didn’t intend to push this extreme population stimulation plan himself. He handed it over to the Prime Minister.

A good emperor shouldn’t usurp the cabinet’s duties. Since the Prime Minister was about to retire, it was perfect timing for him to implement this policy before leaving office.

Otherwise, if a newcomer took over, lacking sufficient prestige, it would be hard to withstand the pressure and push the plan forward. Criticism was inevitable, especially from the liberals who would lambast the government.

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