Port construction required a long period of preparation and would also affect operations in the short term, so the British plan was temporarily unworkable. Moreover, Ernst rather unscrupulously wondered whether their painstaking construction of Maputo Port would ultimately benefit East Africa.
By the same token, Britain and Portugal were also hoping that East Africa's ports would eventually become their own assets. After all, the risks were considerable on both sides.
At the beginning of 1880.
East Africa's census work continued, while its approximate population figures had also been established. In 1879, East African immigrants and newly born residents totaled around 34.72 million, while the Black population numbered 19.62 million.
Added together, East Africa's total population stood at roughly 54 million, exceeding that of countries such as the United States and Germany.
Of course, East African Black people generally were not counted as part of the population, but they had undeniably made enormous contributions to East Africa's construction. That was something no one could erase.
With a population exceeding 50 million, including Black people, East Africa met the definition of a major population power from Ernst's previous life. It was also the world's fourth most populous nation, behind only the Far East Empire, the Great British Empire, and Tsarist Russia.
Even excluding Black people, East Africa's total population surpassed Japan's and was comparable to that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, only slightly lower than Germany's. East Africa's population was now sufficient to compete with the world's major powers.
"People in this era generally had relatively short lifespans. The global average life expectancy was roughly between thirty and forty years. Although East Africa had actively worked to continuously ease population pressures, our average life expectancy had only reached around thirty-five years, basically the world average," Health Minister Berleide reported to the government.