Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

U.S. population hits 300 million
By Matt Belliveau
Massachusetts Daily Collegian (U. Massachusetts)
10/17/2006

(U-WIRE) AMHERST, Mass. — By the time you've finished reading this story the United States will have incurred approximately 26 births, 14 deaths and six immigrants. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the United States takes on one person every 11 seconds, and Tuesday, at about 7:43 a.m., saw its total resident population jump to 300 million.

The United States first hit the million mark in 1915, and needed until 1967 to reach 200 million residents.

University of Massachusetts sociology professor and director of the University's Population Studies Certificate program, Sanjiv Gupta, says that while underdeveloped countries like China and India are seeing faster population growth, United States is the fastest growing developed country in the world.

The United States is alone in its rapid population increase, with some nations seeing a drastic decrease.

Russia's population peaked in the early 1990s (at the time of the end of the Soviet Union) with about 148 million people in the country. Today, Russia's population is approximately 143 million. The United States Census Bureau estimates that Russia's population will decline from the current 143 million to a mere 111 million by 2050, a loss of more than 30 million people and a decrease of more than 20 percent.

The U.S. Bureau says the primary causes of Russia's population decrease and loss of about 700,000 to 800,000 citizens each year are a high death rate, low birth rate, high rate of abortions and a low level of immigration.

Italy is another country seeing a decrease in resident population. Gupta attributes the decrease to low fertility rates in Italian women.

Advances in the American medical field have also attributed to the increase of population. Since 1970, life expectancy at birth has jumped about seven years to a record 77.9 years, according to the Bureau. The share of the population age 65 or older grew from 9.9 percent to 12.4 percent. The median age is up from 28.1 to 36.2 years.

Students at the University of Massachusetts were split in their initial reactions to the population landmark.

"Part of me thinks 'more people in the United States, more money for the United States,'" said Steven Adams, UMass junior. "But I know that more people could put some stress on the economy and the environment."

Gupta agrees the population swell has its pros and cons.

"It can cut both ways. Having more people in the workforce can be a boost to the American economy — social security is paid for people currently working," said Gupta. "But any population can cause stress on its environment. The United States is already the leading country in terms of carbon dioxide omissions and its regulation of industries is much more lax than other places."

According to the World Census Bureau, the world population increased from 3 billion in 1959 to 6 billion by 1999, a doubling that occurred over 40 years. The Census Bureau's latest projections imply that population growth will continue into the 21st century, although more slowly.

Gupta projects the United States population to reach 400 million in 2043.

"It should take less time to reach the next 100 million," said Gupta.

The population landmark comes a month before midterm elections in which illegal immigration is a volatile issue.

Gupta understands that most American will accredit the population boost to increased immigration, but claims that the percentage of immigrants entering the United States is actually lower today than it was in the 1920s.

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