2.7 Peter Süssmilch - "The Godly Order"

In the 18th century interest towards population information increased. In 1741 a Prussian clergyman called Johann Peter Süssmilch (1707-1767) published a volume "The Godly Order", where he demonstrated regularities in different population events in his study of the population structure and birth and death rates in different years.

Süssmilch's ideas were very influential in Sweden-Finland where regular collection of population statistics started from 1749 onwards. The information was gathered from lists maintained by the church. In other parts of Europe there was also interest in other than lists of deaths.