US is at 308M and counting

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See how we grow! Nation set for '10 Census

By MAGGIE HABERMAN

Last Updated: 7:00 AM, December 30, 2009


Who says America isn't growing?

The battered economy hasn't stopped the nation's population growth -- the country will have 308,400,408 people on New Year's Day.

So says the US Census Bureau, which made the projection as it prepares to do its actual tally in three months.

That would mean the number of people living in the 50 states grew by 0.9 percent, or 2,606,181 people, from New Year's Day 2009.

The Census projected that the US population hit 300 million on Oct. 17, 2006, at 7:46 a.m.

The bureau has the numbers down to a science.

For instance, next month, there is expected to be a new US citizen born every eight seconds.

That's slightly ahead of the number who will die next month. The Grim Reaper is expected to call at the rate of one person every 12 seconds.

Foreign immigrants are expected to continue to arrive at a brisk clip to American soil.

A new person is expected to join the population every 37 seconds next month.

That will up the overall population by one person every 14 seconds, according to the Census Bureau estimates.

The projection would mean the number of people living in the fifty states grew by 0.9 percent, or 2,606,181 people, from New Year's Day 2009.

A Census Bureau spokesman said the figures are projected based on last year's numbers, and include illegal immigrants as well as legal residents.

"We don't ask people whether they're here legally or illegally," the spokesman said.

The Census is required to be conducted by the Constitution.

It guides how seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned, and how state and local governments get some $400 billion in federal aid that goes to things like local hospitals.

A full Census survey is taken every decade, in years divisible by 10.

The effort will take much of 2010.

Census forms get mailed out to households with questions about specific demographic information sometime in March.

National Census Day is April 1, when people are supposed to start mailing their forms back in.

Over the summer, federal workers do a canvass to try to reach households that haven't returned any information, so they can get as accurate a count as possible.

By the end of the year, President Obama will be handed the new tallies, and by March 2011, the 50 states will be sent new information on redistricting for congressional seats -- and for federal cash.

Redistricting is expected to be a major issue in New York, since the state Legislature creates the lines for congressional districts -- and the state Senate is almost evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats right now hold a razor-thin majority, but the GOP is itching to reclaim its hold at the end of 2010, when seats come up.

maggie.haberman@nypost.com

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