300,000,000 Population Mark

[EnragedSephiroth]

U.S. Population hits 300 Million Mark
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer
Tue Oct 17, 8:07 AM ET

WASHINGTON - The nation's population officially hit 300 million at 7:46 a.m. EDT Tuesday, when the Census Bureau's population clock rolled over to the big number.

But there weren't any wild celebrations, fireworks or any other government-sponsored hoopla to mark the milestone. Why bother? Many experts think the population actually hit 300 million months ago.

"I don't think anybody believes it will be the precise moment when the population hits 300 million," Howard Hogan, the Census Bureau's associate director for demographic programs, said in an interview before the milestone was reached. But, he added, "We're confident that we're somewhat close."

It's not easy estimating the exact number of people in a country the size of the United States. It gets even more complicated when you take into account illegal immigration, another reason for the federal government to let the milestone pass quietly.

When the U.S. population officially hit 200 million in 1967, President Johnson held a news conference at the Commerce Department to hail America's past and to talk about the challenges ahead. Life magazine dispatched a cadre of photographers to find a baby born at the exact moment, anointing a boy born in Atlanta as the 200 millionth American.

This year, there's a good chance the 300 millionth American has already walked across the border from Mexico.

"It's a couple of weeks before an election when illegal immigration is a high-profile issue and they don't want to make a big deal out of it," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said the Bush administration isn't playing down the milestone, though he said he had no plans for Tuesday. Census Bureau employees planned to mark the moment Tuesday afternoon with cake and punch.

"I would hate to think that we are going to be low key about this," said Gutierrez, whose department oversees the Census Bureau. "I would hope that we make a big deal about it."

Gutierrez said America's growing population is good for the economy. He noted that Japan and some European countries expect to lose population in the next few decades, raising concerns that there won't be enough young people entering the work force to support aging populations.

"This is one more area where we seem to have an advantage," Gutierrez said. "We should all feel good about reaching this milestone."

The U.S. adds about 2.8 million people a year, for a growth rate of less than 1 percent. About 40 percent of the growth comes from immigration. The rest comes from births outnumbering deaths.

The Census Bureau counts the population every 10 years. In between, it uses administrative records and surveys to estimate monthly averages for births, deaths and net immigration. The bureau has a "population clock" that estimates a birth every seven seconds, a death every 13 seconds and a new immigrant every 31 seconds. Add it together and you get one new American every 11 seconds.

The 300 millionth American — born months ago or on Tuesday — is probably Hispanic because they are the fastest growing demographic group in the U.S., Frey said.

Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center, said the Census Bureau has improved its population estimates in the past few years, but it still undercounts illegal immigrants.

There are an estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Experts differ on the specifics, but many estimate that more than 1 million of them don't show up in census figures.

"The census clearly misses people," said Passel, a former Census Bureau employee who used to help estimate the undercount. "Having said that, when they crossed 200 million, they were missing about 5 million people. We think the 2000 census missed a lot less than 5 million people."

-END-

So... what do you think? Is an increase in population a good thing or a bad thing? Is this contry over-populated? What of the countries in the world such as France and Italy who are experiencing declining populations? What of the overcrowded countries such as El Salvador, China and India?

Please feel free to share facts and your opinions on the article and world population. :)

[TNT]

In a stage we are in right now,well.....I don't know. I would think its bad because of over population and illegal immagration.

[zzzzd]

What country does celebrate an amount of people in there country. lol

[EnragedSephiroth]

At 10/17/06 06:18 PM, zzzzd wrote: What country does celebrate an amount of people in there country. lol

Only in America baby yeeah! Only a country as stuck-up, un-humble and self-richeous as this one :(

But then again we didn't celebrate so... :D maybe we're not so bad after all. Or maybe no one cares because they're too preocuppied with their lives. They'll celebrate on the weekend over some hard liquor and dancing.

[Imperator]

with so many out there who want to see this country burn to the ground, its entire people eradicated, and everything "American" erased from existence, I think the 300 mil mark is great.

And no, I'm not just talking about whackjob terrorists. We've got a long list of enemies, having a few extra people around to guard the "wall" won't hurt any.....

[EnragedSephiroth]

At 10/17/06 06:31 PM, Imperator wrote: And no, I'm not just talking about whackjob terrorists. We've got a long list of enemies, having a few extra people around to guard the "wall" won't hurt any.....

Ah yes the wall of "freedom, security and independence" as Bush calls it. He also forgot to mention the wall of alienation, isolation and distrust.

[LazyDrunk]

At 10/17/06 06:34 PM, EnragedSephiroth wrote:
Ah yes the wall of "freedom, security and independence" as Bush calls it. He also forgot to mention the wall of alienation, isolation and distrust.

You silly canadians...

[sdhonda]

Congos to the US

[JudgeDredd]

yeah, Kongrats!

per capita debt just reduced!

[troubles1]

We will celebrate when we can march about 12 million illegal immigrants across the border back to where they belong. did you know they just passed legislation allowing illegals to gain access to our social security. social security is in jeopardy anyway for our future generations and yet we have to give it to some piece of shit that runs jumps or swims into our country. there should be a hunting season on illegals it could be a good sport and then there would at least be some reason for having the little retards here.

[cellardoor6]

At 10/17/06 08:42 PM, troubles1 wrote: We will celebrate when we can march about 12 million illegal immigrants across the border back to where they belong. did you know they just passed legislation allowing illegals to gain access to our social security.

They didn't pass that law. It was just the Democrats who proposed it. I don't think it will pass once Americans are educated on how RIDICULOUS it would be to give social security benefits to illegal immigrants who REFUSE TO PAY TAXES. Social security is supposed to a reward for working hard and contributing to the country through paying taxes. Then Democrats want to give it to illegal immigrants who break our laws, commit lots of crime, and don't pay taxes?

Fucking treasonous Democrats. Lets just sign our country over to the illegals and reward breaking the law with free money from hard-working, tax-payer dollars!

social security is in jeopardy anyway for our future generations and yet we have to give it to some piece of shit that runs jumps or swims into our country. there should be a hunting season on illegals it could be a good sport and then there would at least be some reason for having the little retards here.

Didn't you know? Democrats believe that the social security bankruptcy is a myth conjured by Bush for political support from interesting vote-wielders! But once Social Security collapses I'm sure the democrats will say they did all they could and that it was Republicans, or Bushes fault.

[fahrenheit]

Well it looks like were the 144th most overpopulated country, so I'm guessing compared to other countries were not doing so bad.

[MortifiedPenguins]

At 10/17/06 09:45 PM, fahrenheit wrote: Well it looks like were the 144th most overpopulated country, so I'm guessing compared to other countries were not doing so bad.

Overpopulated.

Apparently you've never been to the Midwest.

[fahrenheit]

At 10/17/06 09:46 PM, MortifiedPenguins wrote: Apparently you've never been to the Midwest.

Apparently you've never been to a metropolis.
Either way it was meant to be sarcastic, a lot of people are complaining of how huge our country is becoming in population yet we only have 32 people per km.

[Jose]

At 10/17/06 09:15 PM, cellardoor6 wrote:

At 10/17/06 08:42 PM, troubles1 wrote: We will celebrate when we can march about 12 million illegal immigrants across the border back to where they belong. did you know they just passed legislation allowing illegals to gain access to our social security.

They didn't pass that law. It was just the Democrats who proposed it. I don't think it will pass once Americans are educated on how RIDICULOUS it would be to give social security benefits to illegal immigrants who REFUSE TO PAY TAXES. Social security is supposed to a reward for working hard and contributing to the country through paying taxes. Then Democrats want to give it to illegal immigrants who break our laws, commit lots of crime, and don't pay taxes?

Fucking treasonous Democrats. Lets just sign our country over to the illegals and reward breaking the law with free money from hard-working, tax-payer dollars!

Didn't you know? Democrats believe that the social security bankruptcy is a myth conjured by Bush for political support from interesting vote-wielders! But once Social Security collapses I'm sure the democrats will say they did all they could and that it was Republicans, or Bushes fault.

It's kind of funny. You claim to be an independent, but every post I see of yours it seems like you bash the Dems every chance you get. If you're a republican, thats fine and dandy, but don't throw up the wall that you aren't.

Oh, and people will be more likely to listen to your opinion if you weren't so condescending when you stated your opinion. There is no reason to be so partisan.

[ironzealot]

overpopulated?

you could actually fit 300,000,000 people within the boundaries of the city of minneapolis, MN if you arranged them front to back, shoulder to shoulder

the overpopulation scares are pure trash, few truely appreciate just how large this planet is

and trust me, the west isn't contributing to the problem, if anything europeans aren't reproducing enough

the problems are africa and india where the national populations double approximately every 25 years. Those are the ones to blame for cranking out metric tons of human biomass every year. I hate those bastards. AIDS is necessary(callous as that might sound)

[EnragedSephiroth]

At 10/17/06 09:15 PM, cellardoor6 wrote: Then Democrats want to give it to illegal immigrants who break our laws, commit lots of crime, and don't pay taxes?

Ah yes how could we overlook the fact that only immigrants break laws and commit lots of crime. Right so then white paranoid fucks like you never break laws, evade taxes or do anything illegal, mhm...

Fucking treasonous Democrats. Lets just sign our country over to the illegals and reward breaking the law with free money from hard-working, tax-payer dollars!

The tax-payer cry is retarded becase just about every American cheats on their taxes and tries to get as much a return as possible so don't act like you're actually willing to hand over your money so easily to the IRS to pay Bush his undeserving six-figure income.

Didn't you know? Democrats believe that the social security bankruptcy is a myth conjured by Bush for political support from interesting vote-wielders! But once Social Security collapses I'm sure the democrats will say they did all they could and that it was Republicans, or Bushes fault.

No, they don't believe it's a myth, but they don't think his idea of full privatization is good either, not every american knows how to invest. I'll be damned if you have equity in corporations right now. I do think Social Security needs to be fixed (and I'm democrat) but full privatization is not such a good alternative.

[JerkClock]

At 10/17/06 06:14 PM, T-N-T wrote: In a stage we are in right now,well.....I don't know. I would think its bad because of over population and illegal immagration.

Considering that so much of our landmass is still as of yet unused, I'd say we're far from overpopulated.

[MortifiedPenguins]

At 10/18/06 02:13 AM, fahrenheit wrote:

At 10/17/06 09:46 PM, MortifiedPenguins wrote:

Either way it was meant to be sarcastic, a lot of people are complaining of how huge our country is becoming in population yet we only have 32 people per km.

Even then, thats just a national average.

You take the more densley populted North East and West Coast and combine that with the nearly empty North and Midwest.

There are tons of open areas to still settle in this country, you just won't have an ocean front.

[Gunter45]

At 10/18/06 02:13 AM, fahrenheit wrote:

At 10/17/06 09:46 PM, MortifiedPenguins wrote: At 10/17/06 09:45 PM, fahrenheit wrote: Well it looks like were the 144th most overpopulated country, so I'm guessing compared to other countries were not doing so bad.

Overpopulated.

Apparently you've never been to the Midwest.

Either way it was meant to be sarcastic, a lot of people are complaining of how huge our country is becoming in population yet we only have 32 people per km.

It didn't seem sarcastic at all. You said, flat out that we weren't overpopulated on the least. He just jumped on that one particular word "overpopulated" and neglected the entire post.

Either way, it is true, of course, the US is one of the least densely populated developed countries. I'm willing to bet that, of the industrialized nations, Russia is, far and away, the least densely populated, what, with Siberia and all.

[EnragedSephiroth]

At 10/18/06 11:32 AM, Gunter45 wrote: Either way, it is true, of course, the US is one of the least densely populated developed countries. I'm willing to bet that, of the industrialized nations, Russia is, far and away, the least densely populated, what, with Siberia and all.

that's because Russia is economically, politically and environmentally not pleasant to habitate in.

[Heavenskid]

Well if the population thing is such a problem to some people, why ban abortion and stem cell reaserch?

[JerkClock]

At 10/18/06 04:14 PM, Heavenskid wrote: Well if the population thing is such a problem to some people, why ban abortion and stem cell reaserch?

I think if some people believe in depopulation they should just do their part and off themselves.

[Heavenskid]

At 10/18/06 05:23 PM, JerkClock wrote:

At 10/18/06 04:14 PM, Heavenskid wrote: Well if the population thing is such a problem to some people, why ban abortion and stem cell reaserch?

I think if some people believe in depopulation they should just do their part and off themselves.

Well thats not so much as depopulation as it is pre-depopulation...
Haha you know offing them before they are a populent...

[EnragedSephiroth]

I can't believe how inhumane, desensitized, cold, apathetic and just plain stupid the last four posts have been. If anything, you're some people the world could do without.

[Heavenskid]

At 10/18/06 07:18 PM, EnragedSephiroth wrote: I can't believe how inhumane, desensitized, cold, apathetic and just plain stupid the last four posts have been. If anything, you're some people the world could do without.

What the hell man? I was kidding, You don't have to tell me to go die over that.
I can't belive how pointlessly stupid your post was, How was all four of the posts "inhumane" and "desensitized". I mean you could of just focused that on me but again I was just kidding!

[EnragedSephiroth]

At 10/18/06 08:15 PM, Heavenskid wrote: What the hell man? I was kidding, You don't have to tell me to go die over that.
I can't belive how pointlessly stupid your post was, How was all four of the posts "inhumane" and "desensitized". I mean you could of just focused that on me but again I was just kidding!

You must be new to the internet. Let' see.... can you hear my tone of voice? NO! That's because there is no tone in text! >:/ Detecting sarcasm in text is nowere near as easy as it is in voice when there's a specific tone we use for sarcasm or jesting. So, ok fine I apologize for my remarks. You were just being a troll was all.

[SirLebowski]

An increase of population gives us a lot of problems that will be hard to deal with because unlike the Chinese, we can't kill or newborns.

Or whatever they do over there.

Why can't America's easy-to-take-advantage-of nature be on the down low =(

[Heavenskid]

At 10/18/06 08:22 PM, EnragedSephiroth wrote:

At 10/18/06 08:15 PM, Heavenskid wrote: What the hell man? I was kidding, You don't have to tell me to go die over that.
I can't belive how pointlessly stupid your post was, How was all four of the posts "inhumane" and "desensitized". I mean you could of just focused that on me but again I was just kidding!

You must be new to the internet. Let' see.... can you hear my tone of voice? NO! That's because there is no tone in text! >:/ Detecting sarcasm in text is nowere near as easy as it is in voice when there's a specific tone we use for sarcasm or jesting. So, ok fine I apologize for my remarks. You were just being a troll was all.

Kay' but does some one have to put </sarcasm> Next to everything we say sarcasticly on the internet, lol. I was hoping that the "haha" before I said "pre-depopulation" would of influenced scarcasem, but I guess it didn't react like I thought it would.
Sorry for being a troll I guess?

[EnragedSephiroth]

At 10/18/06 08:35 PM, Heavenskid wrote: Sorry for being a troll I guess?

Sorry for being as blind as a bat. No harm no faul, my bad.