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Population of the US grew 9.7% to 308.7 million

obeygiant

obeygiant

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 14, 2002
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totally cool
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The population of the United States grew 9.7% to 308.7 million people over the past decade -- the slowest rate of growth since the Great Depression -- the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday.

In the 1930s, the population grew by just 7.3%. Comparatively, the nation added 13.2% more residents during the 1990s.

This is the first time the Census Bureau has released data from the population surveys filled out earlier this year. And the counts include everyone -- not just citizens or legal immigrants. "The mandate is to count everyone living in the United States," said a Census Bureau spokeswoman.

The U.S. Constitution charges the Census Bureau with the task of counting residents every 10 years to track population shifts in the country. And the law requires the Census to report the official population counts -- both national and by state -- to the President before Jan. 1. The numbers are used to apportion Congressional seats.

The winners are concentrated in two of the nation's four regions: Both the West and the South experienced double-digit growth rates, 14.3% in the South, already the most heavily populated region, and 13.8% in the West. The Midwest and the Northeast grew 3.2%

Growth comes from both live births and immigration -- and births are down and fewer people have been moving to the United States.

The fertility rate of the United States is nearly 2.1 children per woman, just about the natural replacement rate, according to data from the United Nations World Population Prospects. That is down from the baby-boom years, when it hit a peak of 3.7, but above most developed countries.

And the recent recession resulted in a slowing immigration rate, according to Carl Haub, a demographer with the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington-based non-profit. "The population growth rate drop is largely because of a couple percentage point dip in immigration," he said.

"India's technicians and engineers who came here sent word back home that it's hard now," Haub added. "The IT industry is not the golden goose it's been in the past."

Despite the slowdown, the nation's growth rate is much higher than most developed countries. The populations of Japan and Germany, for example, are in decline, while France and the United Kingdom are growing at a rate of 5% per decade.
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Good work everyone! :)
 
So more people are having babies today than before? Hrmm.. well.. if they stopped making such a big deal out of it on TV maybe people wouldn't be so obsessed with sex and babies. Just saying.
 
JoeG4 said:
So more people are having babies today than before? Hrmm.. well.. if they stopped making such a big deal out of it on TV maybe people wouldn't be so obsessed with sex and babies. Just saying.
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While this is interesting, I really want to see a figure on the number of people who have moved (either out of the country or to states with lower taxes).
 
Better watch out, USA, your Northern Neighbour is catching up. coinicidentally, we also announced some population figures this week.

Canada, with a population of 34.2 million people grew by 129,300 people... for the quarter ending Oct 1, 2010.... which means [pencil scratching, eraser rubbing] .... a 0.3776% increase in 3 months.

which leads to a 1.51% in year, and if that trend was maintained for a decade, a 15.1% increase (compared to the 9.7%). Of course that's projecting into the future for Canada, and comparing that to the last 10 years for the US.

In 2000 the Canadian population was just over 30 million. So now, that means a ..... [more pencil scratching, etc] a 10.37% increase over the same decade (compared to 9.7%).... which means that.... We're Still Catching Up!!! Whoo Whoo!!! More Hockey Rinks For Us!!! (in about 500 years.... :) ).

Seriously... congratulations on your new family members. Just remember to return the table saw when you're done with the new bedroom, eh?
 
So, if the U.S. is as bad as all those heads of state and ambassadors and such from other countries say, then, why do so many people want to move to the U.S.? I wonder what all those people know that their presidents and prime ministers don't?
 
jnpy!$4g3cwk said:
So, if the U.S. is as bad as all those heads of state and ambassadors and such from other countries say, then, why do so many people want to move to the U.S.? I wonder what all those people know that their presidents and prime ministers don't?
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First of all, not every Head of State/Ambassador are bad-mouthing the US. Then, to do a true comparison you would have to match the migration stats from those nations with HoS/A that do bad-mouth the US. So, for instance, what is the migration pattern from Iran? Seems to me, iirc, Iranian refugees are heading for Australia - not US. I don't know where Libyan migrants/refugees head for - but I would suspect France or Italy. etc etc
 
dukebound85 said:
but of course your kids are ok as you aren't one of, what you call, unattractive people right? lol
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:D No kids for me - ever. I'll die alone and bitter.
...or of an overdose, surrounded by hookers. ;)

But seriously, the overpopulation of the world is out of control. I looked into this a few years ago. I found some projected numbers suggesting the population will grow to 20-30+ billion (high estimate) by 2100. :eek:
How can this planet's resources support so many people. Who knows at what point the population will plateau? Disease is nature's answer but medicine counters that.
I'm glad I won't be around in 200 years.:eek:
 
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RawBert said:
:D No kids for me - ever. I'll die alone and bitter.
...or of an overdose, surrounded by hookers. ;)

But seriously, the overpopulation of the world is out of control. I looked into this a few years ago. I found some projected numbers suggesting the population will grow to 20-30+ billion (high estimate) by 2100. :eek:
How can this planet's resource support so many people. Who knows at what point the population will plateau? Disease is nature's answer but medicine counters that.
I'm glad I won't be around in 200 years.:eek:
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The population is growing at an alarming rate, currently.

If you look at the birth rates of developed versus non-developed countries, you will see a huuuuge birth rate difference; especially if you compare most European countries to most African countries.

Now, last time I checked (so it may have changed), France actually had a negative birth rate, meaning more people were dying than were born and they were considering offering incentives to have babies. The US' birth rate is between developed and non-developed but it is and has been decreasing. Because the US is characterized my a large influx of immigrants, predicting birth rate is well, difficult.

The easiest way to get an idea of population stability is looking at population distribution my age and sex. If there is a large amount of people 0-17 or 65+ in relation to the 18-45 category, the population is extremely unstable and there are going to be massive problems in the near-future. Ideally, you want the large majority of your population to be in the 18-65 range because of productivity and subsistence. Furthermore, they must support the 2 other age ranges.

Here is Australia from 01 and 06 by age and sex. This is a worrying graph as you will see that the population is getting older, but both the birth rate and amount of productive workers is declining. When this happens, you are going to have huge issues regarding elder-care.
population2.gif
 
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