This FAQ addresses the following list of questions:
[anchor=whats_pop]What is population in EU2? How do I see it?[/anchor]
Population is an abstract representation of the population of the capital city of a province. It is not the population of the province itself. Note that the richness of the province as a whole (as opposed to the capital city) is abstracted as the Base Tax Value for the province; this tax is computed independent of population. Most province income is scaled up with population.
To see the population of a province, you want the province information screen. For a non-owned province, you get this by just clicking on the province. For your own provinces, you can right-click and select View, or else click the province (you get the picture view of it), then click the church icon. (Note that population, but not growth, is shown on the picture view at the top.) The province information screen shows, among many other bits of information, the province's population, along with the rate of increase or decline.
[anchor=effect_of_pop]What's the effect of population in the game?[/anchor]
Perhaps the most important effect of population is determining when a colony turns into a colonial city. This happens at 1000 pop, or 900 pop if there are natives present. This transition has many effects; for example, you can only promote officials in a city. Cities pay census tax; colonies don't. Cities are worth more warscore and also cost BB to take in war.
Population also is the difference between being a colonial city (pop 1000-4999), and a city (pop 5000+). Cities and colonial cities mostly have the exact same rules; however, there are several ways in which they differ. Colonial cities can have their culture converted under certain conditions; see the Culture FAQ v1.08. And colonial cities cost 1/5 as much to convert, if they are on a different continent than the capital of their nation. (This effect is new in 1.09, and not currently documented in the Missionary and Conversion FAQ.) Colonial cities are subject to a few different growth modifiers than cities; see below.
As a city increases in population, when it reaches certain population levels (5000, 10000, 20000, etc.) it will increase its income. Most income is affected by population, including production income, gold income, trade tax, and generated trade; for an explanation of these see the Economy FAQ v1.09. Additionally, at certain population levels (1000, 20000, and 200000) the manpower supplied by the province increases. See the Manpower FAQ v1.06.
Population makes religious conversion attempts both more expensive and less likely to succeed. For details, see the Missionary & Conversion FAQ v1.08.
[anchor=how_growth]How does population growth work?[/anchor]
The growth rate displayed on the province information screen is a per-decade approximation of the actual growth. Population growth actually occurs at the start of every month, using the displayed growth rate divided by 120. (There are 120 months in a decade.)
For example, a city which has a displayed growth rate of 12% will grow by (12%/120)=.1% per month. If the city has 1000 people, then it will grow by (.1% * 1000 pop)=1 pop per month. Population is kept as a floating point number internally, which results in smooth growth. For example, a colony at 500 pop and 12% growth will grow 0.5 pop/month; in the game you'll see it at 500 for two months, then 501. Internally, it is at 500.5 after the first month.
Provinces with positive growth continue to grow up to population 999999, where growth is capped. Provinces with negative growth rates decline in population, with two exceptions. A colony can never go below 1 pop, so you cannot lose a colony to negative growth, no matter how awful its climate is. Also, a city cannot revert to a colony: no city province can decline below 1000 pop for any reason.
[anchor=detail_growth]Exactly how is the population growth rate determined?[/anchor]
A province's growth rate is determined by several factors. The base growth rate determined by the national stability of the owning nation: this is 1% per decade, plus 1% for each point of stability above -3. For example, if your national stability is -1, your cities will grow at a rate of 3%, assuming no per-province factors apply.
The per-province factors are as follows:
On the province information screen, if you mouse over the population growth rate display, a tooltip will appear showing down the growth rate broken down according to the factors listed above.
The location malus applies to all colonies and (in reduced form) colonial cities, which are on a different continent than the nation owning them. The colony bonus applies to all colonies and colonial cities on a different continent. On your home continent (that is, the continent where your capital province is), there is no location malus or colony bonus in any province. Continents are described in the Mini-Atlas v1.08.
The location malus is based on a province's "Difficulty for Colonization" number, which is found in province.csv. This number is divided by three. DfC is 0 for many European provinces. It is 2 for a handful of very easy provinces, and usually 3-9. There are no provinces with DfC of 10 or more. Then subtract the following additional penalties:
Tropical climates are climates 4 and 6, in province.csv. The resulting number is the base location malus. The base location malus (capped to -14; see below) applies when a province is a colony, and also (strangely) for colonial cities at exactly 1000.000 population. Once the province becomes a colonial city with pop of at least 1000.001, the malus is immediately reduced to 2/3 of its base value. It is also reduced linearly as the colony grows in pop, being eliminated altogether when the colonial city becomes a city at 5000 population. The formula for the malus is this:
Finally, location maluses for both colonies and colonial cities are capped at -14. If a malus would be worse than that, -14 is used instead.
Being an island matters. Islands (defined as any province which has no land connection to another province), have a location malus that is drastically reduced from what they would otherwise be. Sometime like a quarter, maybe. Although that's not exactly right, it's a reasonable approximation. The worst island in the world is Fernando Po, and its malus is just -3, when it ought to be -14.
Note that the in-game display of the location malus is rounded to the nearest integer. Occasionally you'll see a city showing 0% pop growth shrink; this is why. (It's actually -1/3% in that case.)
[anchor=other_change]Can population change other than via population growth?[/anchor]
Yes. There are several other ways in which population in a province can change.
First, colonization. When you build trading posts or colonies, you add population to a province. Trading posts have 10 people per level. Each successful colonization adds 100 pop to a province. For more on colonization, see the Colonization FAQ v1.08.
Second, nations and natives can burn trading posts, which eliminates them. Natives can also reduce the population of colonies in their province, or eliminate them entirely, when a native attack happens and there's no friendly army to fight the natives (or the army leaves or flees). If you get military access with a colonial nation, it is possible to (ab)use it to repeatedly provoke natives and run away, to clear off trading posts and colonies so that you can colonize the province instead. (This tactic is vital for native American nations.)
Finally, events can add to or subtract from a province's population. Some nations have scripted events which may affect their population, and sometimes also a neighbor's. For example, in vanilla EU2, France has an event in 1681 called "Protestants expelled from France". If the player (or AI) selects the first choice, five randomly chosen provinces will lose 10000 pop, convert religion, and have their base tax value reduced. Meanwhile, the event triggers an event in Holland which adds population to provinces there.
There are several random events which affect population. For example, the "New Land Claimed" event adds 2500 pop to a random province (along with some other effects). For details, search the Random Events FAQ v1.08 for "population".
[anchor=grow_colony]I have a colonial city that just won't grow! It just sits there at 1000 population. How do I get it to grow into a city?[/anchor]
The best "solution" to this problem is just to forget about it. In general it's not that important to get colonial cities growing, because even at 1000 pop you get a good fraction of the income you could ever get from the province. That is, sending extra colonists is usually not very cost-effective. Maybe you'll be lucky and get a "New Land Claimed" event.
There are a few provinces which, at exactly 1000.000 pop, won't grow, whereas they will at 1000.001. (Most non-tropical provinces in Africa are like this.) For these provinces, sending an extra colonist might possibly be worthwhile.
One good colonization tactic in the tropics and in Africa is to send a trading post to a province first, even when you plan to colonize immediately. The TP boosts colonization chances slightly for your first colonist, which is nice. But the main reason for it is that your colony will decline in population while you are building it, because of the tropical growth malus. Thus, your 100 pop would decline to 99 shortly, and that means it would take 11 colonists, not just 10, to get it to a city. By sending the TP first, with its 10 men, the small growth losses you take during colonization will not reduce the colony size. Thus, it takes 1 TP and 10 colonists to make the colony a city, which is cheaper.
I don't care about money! I want my city to grow!
OK, OK. See the "location malus" mentioned [anchorlink=detail_growth]above[/anchorlink]? Well, the good news is it will go away, if you can just get the colonial city enough population. So, get your stability up. Still not growing? You definitely want a governor. And maybe a manufactury. Now, if you have spare colonists, send them. Each of them raises pop by 100, which will eventually lessen the malus.
[anchor=kill_pop]I want to get a cheap conversion in a city, but it's a bit above 5000 pop. Can I lower the population of a city?[/anchor]
There's no easy way to lower the population of your cities. Sorry. However, if a province has a fort, and you can afford to give up its income for years or decades, then you may be able to engineer a significant population reduction by using rebels to siege and loot.
To do this, of course you need some rebels. If you're lucky, you'll get a random rebellion in the province. You might send a missionary; rebels will naturally appear if the attempt fails. You can also try jacking up religious intolerance to the province's religion; the downside here is that (a) you have to have a slider for that religion, and (b) intolerance will cause rebellion risk in all provinces you have with that religion, which you may not want. For more information on rebels and rebellion risk, see the Rebel FAQ v1.09.
Note that when a rebellion happens, the rebels are generated with enough men to siege, not just cover, the province they appear in. You don't want a rebel siege to complete, because then you would have to take the province back, to prevent it from defecting or revolting. Sometimes the support limits of the province will attrit the rebels down below siege levels without you having to do anything. You may also be able to use your own armies to attrit the rebels, by planning an arrival at the end of a month then running on the first. But typically, you'll have to cull the rebels by combat, fighting for a while, then running away. Don't let the rebels' morale drop to zero, or they'll all die. To be safe, run away when their morale gets a bit below the halfway mark. You may have to engage them several times until enough rebels are killed that they are below siege amounts.
Once you get rebels in the province, they will cause the looting, siege, and enemy army maluses to growth, for a total of -15% growth. This will cause any province except a high-stability colonial CoT to go into decline. Just remember that even a fairly large negative number is growth per decade, not per year, so it just isn't going to be fast.
- [anchorlink=whats_pop]What is population? How do I see it?[/anchorlink]
- [anchorlink=effect_of_pop]What effects does population have?[/anchorlink]
- [anchorlink=how_growth]How does population growth work?[/anchorlink]
- [anchorlink=detail_growth]Exactly how is the population growth rate determined?[/anchorlink]
- [anchorlink=other_change]Can population change other than via population growth?[/anchorlink]
- [anchorlink=grow_colony]I have this colony that isn't growing. How do I get it to grow into a city?[/anchorlink]
- [anchorlink=kill_pop]Can I lower the population of a city?[/anchorlink]
[anchor=whats_pop]What is population in EU2? How do I see it?[/anchor]
Population is an abstract representation of the population of the capital city of a province. It is not the population of the province itself. Note that the richness of the province as a whole (as opposed to the capital city) is abstracted as the Base Tax Value for the province; this tax is computed independent of population. Most province income is scaled up with population.
To see the population of a province, you want the province information screen. For a non-owned province, you get this by just clicking on the province. For your own provinces, you can right-click and select View, or else click the province (you get the picture view of it), then click the church icon. (Note that population, but not growth, is shown on the picture view at the top.) The province information screen shows, among many other bits of information, the province's population, along with the rate of increase or decline.
[anchor=effect_of_pop]What's the effect of population in the game?[/anchor]
Perhaps the most important effect of population is determining when a colony turns into a colonial city. This happens at 1000 pop, or 900 pop if there are natives present. This transition has many effects; for example, you can only promote officials in a city. Cities pay census tax; colonies don't. Cities are worth more warscore and also cost BB to take in war.
Population also is the difference between being a colonial city (pop 1000-4999), and a city (pop 5000+). Cities and colonial cities mostly have the exact same rules; however, there are several ways in which they differ. Colonial cities can have their culture converted under certain conditions; see the Culture FAQ v1.08. And colonial cities cost 1/5 as much to convert, if they are on a different continent than the capital of their nation. (This effect is new in 1.09, and not currently documented in the Missionary and Conversion FAQ.) Colonial cities are subject to a few different growth modifiers than cities; see below.
As a city increases in population, when it reaches certain population levels (5000, 10000, 20000, etc.) it will increase its income. Most income is affected by population, including production income, gold income, trade tax, and generated trade; for an explanation of these see the Economy FAQ v1.09. Additionally, at certain population levels (1000, 20000, and 200000) the manpower supplied by the province increases. See the Manpower FAQ v1.06.
Population makes religious conversion attempts both more expensive and less likely to succeed. For details, see the Missionary & Conversion FAQ v1.08.
[anchor=how_growth]How does population growth work?[/anchor]
The growth rate displayed on the province information screen is a per-decade approximation of the actual growth. Population growth actually occurs at the start of every month, using the displayed growth rate divided by 120. (There are 120 months in a decade.)
For example, a city which has a displayed growth rate of 12% will grow by (12%/120)=.1% per month. If the city has 1000 people, then it will grow by (.1% * 1000 pop)=1 pop per month. Population is kept as a floating point number internally, which results in smooth growth. For example, a colony at 500 pop and 12% growth will grow 0.5 pop/month; in the game you'll see it at 500 for two months, then 501. Internally, it is at 500.5 after the first month.
Provinces with positive growth continue to grow up to population 999999, where growth is capped. Provinces with negative growth rates decline in population, with two exceptions. A colony can never go below 1 pop, so you cannot lose a colony to negative growth, no matter how awful its climate is. Also, a city cannot revert to a colony: no city province can decline below 1000 pop for any reason.
[anchor=detail_growth]Exactly how is the population growth rate determined?[/anchor]
A province's growth rate is determined by several factors. The base growth rate determined by the national stability of the owning nation: this is 1% per decade, plus 1% for each point of stability above -3. For example, if your national stability is -1, your cities will grow at a rate of 3%, assuming no per-province factors apply.
The per-province factors are as follows:
Code:
Province is looted: -5%
Province is occupied: -3%
Province is covered/sieged: -5%
Enemy troops present: -5%
CoT in province: +5%
CoT in adjacent province: +2%
Colony or colonial city: +5%
Province has governor: +1%
Province has manufactury: +2%
Location malus: varies; -1% to -14%The location malus applies to all colonies and (in reduced form) colonial cities, which are on a different continent than the nation owning them. The colony bonus applies to all colonies and colonial cities on a different continent. On your home continent (that is, the continent where your capital province is), there is no location malus or colony bonus in any province. Continents are described in the Mini-Atlas v1.08.
The location malus is based on a province's "Difficulty for Colonization" number, which is found in province.csv. This number is divided by three. DfC is 0 for many European provinces. It is 2 for a handful of very easy provinces, and usually 3-9. There are no provinces with DfC of 10 or more. Then subtract the following additional penalties:
Code:
Province is in Africa: -12%
Province is in Asia: -3%
Province has tropical climate: -8%
Code:
colonial_city_malus = 0.6666 * (1.0 - (pop - 1000)/4000) * base_malusBeing an island matters. Islands (defined as any province which has no land connection to another province), have a location malus that is drastically reduced from what they would otherwise be. Sometime like a quarter, maybe. Although that's not exactly right, it's a reasonable approximation. The worst island in the world is Fernando Po, and its malus is just -3, when it ought to be -14.
Note that the in-game display of the location malus is rounded to the nearest integer. Occasionally you'll see a city showing 0% pop growth shrink; this is why. (It's actually -1/3% in that case.)
[anchor=other_change]Can population change other than via population growth?[/anchor]
Yes. There are several other ways in which population in a province can change.
First, colonization. When you build trading posts or colonies, you add population to a province. Trading posts have 10 people per level. Each successful colonization adds 100 pop to a province. For more on colonization, see the Colonization FAQ v1.08.
Second, nations and natives can burn trading posts, which eliminates them. Natives can also reduce the population of colonies in their province, or eliminate them entirely, when a native attack happens and there's no friendly army to fight the natives (or the army leaves or flees). If you get military access with a colonial nation, it is possible to (ab)use it to repeatedly provoke natives and run away, to clear off trading posts and colonies so that you can colonize the province instead. (This tactic is vital for native American nations.)
Finally, events can add to or subtract from a province's population. Some nations have scripted events which may affect their population, and sometimes also a neighbor's. For example, in vanilla EU2, France has an event in 1681 called "Protestants expelled from France". If the player (or AI) selects the first choice, five randomly chosen provinces will lose 10000 pop, convert religion, and have their base tax value reduced. Meanwhile, the event triggers an event in Holland which adds population to provinces there.
There are several random events which affect population. For example, the "New Land Claimed" event adds 2500 pop to a random province (along with some other effects). For details, search the Random Events FAQ v1.08 for "population".
[anchor=grow_colony]I have a colonial city that just won't grow! It just sits there at 1000 population. How do I get it to grow into a city?[/anchor]
The best "solution" to this problem is just to forget about it. In general it's not that important to get colonial cities growing, because even at 1000 pop you get a good fraction of the income you could ever get from the province. That is, sending extra colonists is usually not very cost-effective. Maybe you'll be lucky and get a "New Land Claimed" event.
There are a few provinces which, at exactly 1000.000 pop, won't grow, whereas they will at 1000.001. (Most non-tropical provinces in Africa are like this.) For these provinces, sending an extra colonist might possibly be worthwhile.
One good colonization tactic in the tropics and in Africa is to send a trading post to a province first, even when you plan to colonize immediately. The TP boosts colonization chances slightly for your first colonist, which is nice. But the main reason for it is that your colony will decline in population while you are building it, because of the tropical growth malus. Thus, your 100 pop would decline to 99 shortly, and that means it would take 11 colonists, not just 10, to get it to a city. By sending the TP first, with its 10 men, the small growth losses you take during colonization will not reduce the colony size. Thus, it takes 1 TP and 10 colonists to make the colony a city, which is cheaper.
I don't care about money! I want my city to grow!
OK, OK. See the "location malus" mentioned [anchorlink=detail_growth]above[/anchorlink]? Well, the good news is it will go away, if you can just get the colonial city enough population. So, get your stability up. Still not growing? You definitely want a governor. And maybe a manufactury. Now, if you have spare colonists, send them. Each of them raises pop by 100, which will eventually lessen the malus.
[anchor=kill_pop]I want to get a cheap conversion in a city, but it's a bit above 5000 pop. Can I lower the population of a city?[/anchor]
There's no easy way to lower the population of your cities. Sorry. However, if a province has a fort, and you can afford to give up its income for years or decades, then you may be able to engineer a significant population reduction by using rebels to siege and loot.
To do this, of course you need some rebels. If you're lucky, you'll get a random rebellion in the province. You might send a missionary; rebels will naturally appear if the attempt fails. You can also try jacking up religious intolerance to the province's religion; the downside here is that (a) you have to have a slider for that religion, and (b) intolerance will cause rebellion risk in all provinces you have with that religion, which you may not want. For more information on rebels and rebellion risk, see the Rebel FAQ v1.09.
Note that when a rebellion happens, the rebels are generated with enough men to siege, not just cover, the province they appear in. You don't want a rebel siege to complete, because then you would have to take the province back, to prevent it from defecting or revolting. Sometimes the support limits of the province will attrit the rebels down below siege levels without you having to do anything. You may also be able to use your own armies to attrit the rebels, by planning an arrival at the end of a month then running on the first. But typically, you'll have to cull the rebels by combat, fighting for a while, then running away. Don't let the rebels' morale drop to zero, or they'll all die. To be safe, run away when their morale gets a bit below the halfway mark. You may have to engage them several times until enough rebels are killed that they are below siege amounts.
Once you get rebels in the province, they will cause the looting, siege, and enemy army maluses to growth, for a total of -15% growth. This will cause any province except a high-stability colonial CoT to go into decline. Just remember that even a fairly large negative number is growth per decade, not per year, so it just isn't going to be fast.