By 1909, Bulgaria's total population had risen to 22.1864 million, an increase of 1.7989 million over the 20.3875 million recorded in 1907. Of that, natural population growth accounted for 1.1826 million, while the rest still came from the Population Department's policy of pulling people in!
However, as the situation within Russia gradually stabilized, the number of immigrants had already fallen sharply after 1908.
By 1909, most immigrants arriving from Russia were wives brought over by men returning home to visit relatives. Whole-family relocations had become rare.
After all, once things stabilized, few people were willing to leave their homeland behind. It also had to do with European tradition: the eldest son inherited the family estate, while the second son went out to make his own way.
Once he left home, it was tantamount to setting up his own household. Unless driven to desperation, parents would not take the entire family to seek refuge elsewhere!
Still, Ferdinand was satisfied. This pace was more or less enough. After all, immigrants needed time to integrate, and taking in too many at once would make resettlement a problem.
Under normal circumstances, once the Family Planning Act was introduced, Bulgaria would inevitably enter an explosive period of population growth over the next few years. Ferdinand had no doubt about that, and it was also tied to Bulgaria's demographic structure.
Ever since Ferdinand ascended the throne, he had consistently pursued a national policy encouraging childbirth. Though the measures had not been as forceful before as they were now, the results had still been obvious!
A comparison with historical data from his previous life showed that since Ferdinand took the throne, Bulgaria's birth rate had risen by 0.1% to 0.9% over the historical figures for the same period. It was roughly on par with Russia during the