Demographics of The United States

Demographics Of The United States

As of November 1, 2012 the United States had a total resident population of 314,832,000, making it the third most populous country in the world. It is a very urbanized population, with 82% residing in cities and suburbs as of 2008 (the worldwide urban rate is 50.5%). This leaves vast expanses of the country nearly uninhabited. California and Texas are the most populous states, as the mean center of United States population has consistently shifted westward and southward. New York City is the most populous city in the United States.

The total fertility rate in the United States estimated for 2011 is 1.89 children per woman, which is below the replacement fertility rate of approximately 2.1. Compared to other Western countries, in 2011, U.S. fertility rate was lower than that of France (2.02) and the United Kingdom (1.97). However, U.S. population growth is among the highest in industrialized countries, because the differences in fertility rates are less than the differences in immigration levels, which are higher in the U.S. The United States Census Bureau shows population increase of 0.91% for the twelve month period ending in July 2011. Though high by industrialized country standards, this is below the world average annual rate of 1.09%.

There were 155.6 million females in the United States in 2009. The number of males was 151.4 million. At age 85 and older, there were more than twice as many women as men. People under 20 years of age made up over a quarter of the U.S. population (27.3%), and people age 65 and over made up one-eighth (12.8%) in 2009. The national median age was 36.8 years. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who reported “White” or wrote in entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish." Whites constitute the majority of the U.S. population, with a total of 223,553,265 or 72.4% of the population in the 2010 United States Census. (72.4% = 63.7% "White + Not Hispanic or Latino" + 8.7% "White + Hispanic or Latino"). Despite major changes due to illegal and legal immigration since the 1960s and the higher birth-rates of nonwhites, the absolute majority of the American citizens are still white, Protestant and native English-speaking.

The American population more than tripled during the 20th century—at a growth rate of about 1.3% a year—from about 76 million in 1900 to 281 million in 2000. It reached the 200 million mark in 1967, and the 300 million mark on October 17, 2006. Currently, population growth is fastest among minorities as a whole, and according to the Census Bureau's estimation for 2012, 50.4% of American children under the age of 1 belonged to minority groups.

Hispanic and Latino Americans accounted for almost half (1.4 million) of the national population growth of 2.9 million between July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2006. Immigrants and their U.S.-born descendants are expected to provide most of the U.S. population gains in the decades ahead.

The Census Bureau projects a U.S. population of 439 million in 2050, which is a 46% increase from 2007 (301.3 million). However, the United Nations projects a U.S. population of 402 million in 2050, an increase of 32% from 2007 (the UN projects a gain of 38% for the world at large). In either case, such growth is unlike most European countries, especially Germany, Russia, and Greece, or Asian countries such as Japan or South Korea, whose populations are slowly declining, and whose fertility rates are below replacement. In 2011, minority babies outnumbered non-Hispanic white babies for the first time.