The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 454: Chapter 362: Rapid Growth of Economy and Population

For Australasia, December 1913 was decidedly the busiest month. In just this one month, Australasia accepted a large number of Britain-France-Pacific Colonies, successfully expanding its sphere of influence over a large part of the Pacific Ocean.

If we only consider the current land area of Australasia, it is only over eight million square kilometers.

But if we include Australasia's territorial waters, Australasia could potentially be said to be a massive country with an area of tens of millions of square kilometers.

It's worth noting that the definition of territorial waters by countries worldwide is not clear, and there is no standardized figure to specify the range of territorial waters of each country.

This means that if the naval power of Australasia were strong enough, there is potential to turn the majority of the Pacific Ocean to the west and south of Hawaii into its territorial waters.

If this goal could be achieved, no one would be able to encroach upon Australasia's native land, and the Pacific Ocean would become an inland sea of Australasia.

The Australasian Government places great importance on the acceptance of new territories. The navy is on standby at all times, ready for any possible contingencies.

In reality, if Australasia could gain total control over these new territories, it would form a solid defensive chain of islands outside Australasia.

By then, even in confrontation with an industrial economy powerhouse like the United States, Australasia would have sufficient strength and confidence.

What Australasia lacks most at the moment is time. Time is needed not only to develop the population but also to stabilize the rule over these new territories.

The naval fleet escorts transport ships to the major colonies and territories. They not only transport the governors of new colonies and territories but also the troops stationed there, and some local scarce resources and grain, etc.

Time flies. In the busyness of the Australasian Cabinet Government, December quickly reached its last day.

On December 31, 1913, in accordance with tradition, the annual report conference was held at the Sydney Palace.

This year's annual report conference had to report not only the full year's situation for 1913 but also the deployment situation of the new colonies.

Australasia's current actual sphere of influence has expanded to the central Pacific, and these territorial waters need to be defended.

Similarly, the scheduling and communication between the various colonies, as well as the connection between the native land and the colonies, require the implementation of corresponding policies for stabilization.

Throughout 1913, Australasia's population was still in a state of rapid growth. Although some European Nations have begun to limit emigration, Australasia, due to joining the Allies, was in reality not restricted in terms of immigration.

Immigrants from vital countries for Australasia, like Britain and Russia Nation, were constantly arriving in Australasia, becoming official citizens of Australasia.

In 1913, the number of newborns in Australasia exceeded 400,000 for the first time, reaching 431,400.

This figure is the highest in Australasian history for newborns in a single year. The Cabinet's Encouraging Fertility Policy plays an undeniable role in this.

The Encouraging Fertility Policy has removed Australasians' worries about having children. Not only can they receive rewards for having children, but the government also bears a large part of the fees for the newborn's education and medical care later on.

This has also made Australasians more enthusiastic about having children. Since everyone usually does not have loan pressure, having children has become the choice of the majority.

Regarding immigration, due to the significant increase in Russian immigrants, the immigration environment in Australasia still maintains a high growth rate.

In 1913, Australasia gained a total of 1.3 million immigrants, of which more than 800,000 were contributed by Russia Nation.

To attract immigrants from Russia Nation, the Australasian Government even sent people to bribe Russia's lower-middle-class officials, which allowed the path of immigration to be unimpeded.

For Russia Nation, fewer than a million immigrants is simply a small figure, inconsequential to Russia's total population.

By facilitating large-scale immigration to Australasia, Russia Nation could also exchange military equipment and strategic supplies from Australasia, which was a completely risk-free deal.

Russia Nation does not lack people, Australasia does not lack weapons and industrial products, and large-scale immigration is a win-win for both parties.

Of the remaining nearly 500,000 immigrants, Britain-France Two Nations immigrants account for more than 310,000, German immigrants 20,000, Italian immigrants 40,000, and other immigrants distributed in various European Nations.

However, due to the popularity of welfare benefits and medical developments in Australasia, the number of deaths in 1913 was very low, only a little over 20,000.

In addition to a newly received population of over a hundred thousand from the colonies (Indigenous Peoples not counted), Australasia saw a net increase of over 1.8 million people.

After deducting the number of deaths from the increase in population, Australasia's net population growth still reached over 1.82 million, making it one of the countries with the highest population growth rate in the world, if not the highest.

Australasia's total population has also reached 13.932 million, rapidly inching towards 15 million.

Of course, when the Australasian Government counts the population, it will not count the Indigenous Peoples in Australasia, which currently number in the millions.

If the Indigenous Peoples were included, Australasia's population would have already exceeded 15 million.