US population set to break 300m Tuesday

US population set to break 300m Tuesday
mongabay.com
October 16, 2006

The U.S. population is expected to reach 300 million people on Tuesday, October 17 according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census. The world's largest economy has the fastest population growth (0.91 percent) of G-8 countries, meaning the country adds another 2.8 million people a year, equivalent to the addition of another Arkansas or Kansas. The United States is the third largest country in the world, behind China and India.

US Population 1900-2005

America's population has increased by 50 percent over the past 39 years when the country reach its last milestone of 2000 million. The Census Bureau says that about 40 percent of U.S. population growth comes from immigration, while the rest come from births outnumbering deaths.

There are about 6 million more women in the United States then men and the median age is about 36.4 years. A little over 12 percent of the population is age 65 or older. The Census Bureau says that nearly three-quarters of the population is "white", though this figure includes people of Latino and Hispanic origin. About 12 percent of the population is "black or African American". 12.4 percent are foreign-born

84 percent of Americans have a high school education, while 27 percent have a bachelor's degree or higher. Roughly 56 percent of Americans are now married.

California, with more than 36 million people, is the most populous state, followed by Texas (22.9m), New York (19.3m), Florida (17.8m), and Illinois (12.8m). Wyoming has the fewest people at just over 509,000.

While Texas is only the second most populous state, it has by far the highest levels of carbon dioxide emissions at 656 million metric tons. California (383 mmt), Pennsylvania (262), Ohio (252), Florida (239) round out the top 5.

On a relative basis, the United States has a lot of open area compared to other developed economies. America has roughly 84 people per square mile, compared with about 300 people per square mile in the European Union, nearly 900 people per square mile in Japan, and more than 16,400 per square mile in Singapore. Still U.S. population is growing faster than other wealthy countries. America's 0.91 percent growth rate puts it well ahead of the European Union (0.15%), Japan (0.02%), and Russia (-0.37%), and even exceeds that of China (0.59%), the world's most populous country.

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