Economy

US Population Hits 330,222,422 to Start New Decade

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: December 31, 2019 6:20 am

As the clock hits midnight and a new decade begins January 1, the population of the United States will reach 330,222,422. That number will be up by 21,476,884 from Census Day on April 1, 2010. The figure means the United States will remain the third-largest nation in the world by population, though it is among the slowest growing of the major countries.

The U.S. Census Bureau released the new numbers in its Census Bureau Projects U.S. and World Populations on New Year’s Day report. Among other information, the report shows that next month, there will be a birth every eight seconds and a death every 11 seconds. “Net international migration” is expected to add a person to the population every 34 seconds in January. In other words, America will remain a nation of immigrants, although not on the scale of a century ago.

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The combination of births, deaths and immigration means the U.S. population will grow by a person every 19 seconds in January.

A better look at how much population growth has slowed in the United States is the rate from January 2019. Since then, it has expanded by only 0.61%, which means the population over that period increased by only 1,991,085 people.

The same Census document shows the United States continues to grow at a rate much slower than the world as a whole. Since January 1, 2019, it has risen globally by 1.03%, or 77,684,873, to 7,621,018,958. The increase is more than the entire population of the United Kingdom. Much of the rise is due to growth in Pakistan, India, China, Nigeria, Ethiopia and D.R. Congo. The drags on growth include Germany, Japan, Russia, Italy and France.