Think of yourself as a people person? One of those people who need people and are among the luckiest in the world? Well, your big day has finally arrived.
Sometime in the early hours of this morning, around 4:46 in Los Angeles, the population of the United States hit 300 million -- and took the first baby step to the next milestone: 400 million people in the United States by around midcentury. But before anyone gets overwhelmed by the outpouring of cute, keep this in mind: No one will know exactly who is the 300-millionth. It could be a baby born in the rural heartland of the Midwest or in the growing suburban belts that cinch many American cities.
It could be a desperate child from impoverished parents or one poised to inherit great privilege. In fact, it may not be a baby at all. The 300-millionth person in the United States could be an immigrant, legally arriving with papers at some airport or entering illegally through a Southwest desert or surviving weeks in the smelly hold of a tramp freighter with the help of a "coyote" or a "snakehead.
" The estimated time of arrival is determined by the rate of growth of the U.S. population.
According to the Census Bureau, there is one birth in the United States every seven seconds and one death every 13 seconds. The population grows by one international immigrant every 31 seconds. Doing the math means that the population grows by one person every 11 seconds.
The population of the United States hit 100 million in 1915. It took another 52 years to hit 200 million and just 39 more years to hit 300 million, so the rate of growth has accelerated. That trend seems to have slowed a touch, so the 400-millionth American may not arrive until around 2050.
Many argue that population growth brings advantages. Economists contend that more people means more people working, more goods and services being bought, a sturdier wage-earning base available to fund pension systems and take care of the older generation and the retiring baby boomers. But not everyone is thrilled by the population growth.
Some argue that resources, land and energy will become more precious as more people have to fight over the shrinking pie. That argument is far from universally accepted, with critics who point to the low land use in the United States. The country uses only about 7% of its landmass for cities and infrastructure.
Nor does the entire country feel like the 405 at 5 p.m. There are about 84 people per square mile in the United States, less than 10% of the almost 900 jammed into every square mile of Japan.
Even Europe is more than three times as dense as the United States. Because of its size, California stands a good chance of hosting the person that puts the country over the 300-million mark. Elk Grove, a suburb of Sacramento, is the country's fastest growing city with a population above 100,000 and Riverside is the fastest growing metropolitan area.
Los Angeles is the country's most heavily Latino area and Latinos are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population.
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