Sometime in the middle of October of this year, someone, either a baby being born, or an immigrant coming to America will push the total population of the United States to 300 million for the first time.

I thought it might be interesting to take a deeper look into some historic population numbers with data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

First we have the historic population numbers of the United States from 1790 onwards:

It’s interesting to note that in the decade between 1990 and 2000 population growth has exploded in the United States.  Around 33 million new people, mostly through immigration were added to the nation during that time, while between 1980 and 1990 the nation grew by 22 million. 

According to USA Today, The United States is now one of the leading nations in population growth, placing 5th behind Nigeria, Pakistan, Egypt, and India.  The growth rate for the U.S. is in sharp contrast to most developed nations that are actually losing population. Many developed nations actually have a negative growth rate (Russia, Japan, Germany)

With a population of 300 Million, that places the United States 3rd in total population behind China (1.2 billion) and India (1 Billion), with the U.S. representing around 5% of the world’s total population.

So how many more people can the U.S. hold?    It’s anyone’s guess. 

We still have a lot of room to spare compared to other nations; our national population density has gone from 70 people per square mile in 1990 to around 87 per square mile in 2006.  However that’s still far less than China (361 / mile) and India (235 / mile) and a fraction of developed Germany (609 / mile) and Japan (835 / mile).

While there’s no way to tell who will be the 300 millionth person, the population clock at the U.S. Census Bureau gives the best estimate as to what the current U.S. population is. As of the writing of this article….

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the resident population of the United States, projected to 07/06/06 at 07:04 GMT (EST+5) is: 299,146,755 

COMPONENT SETTINGS FOR JULY 2006

One birth every…………………………………….   7 seconds
One death every…………………………………..  13 seconds
One international migrant (net) every……………  31 seconds
Net gain of one person every…………………….  10 seconds

The latest estimate is that we’ll hit 300 Million sometime around October 17th of this year.   Will there be a celebration?  Will we pass this milestone without blinking an eye? Or will America take pause and reflect on what this means, if anything at all?

Stay tuned.