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US population to pass 300 million milestone
Jocelyne Zablit
Mon, 02 Oct 2006
The population of the United States will hit the 300 million mark sometime in October, a milestone set to generate little celebration amid raging debate on immigration and concerns over the potential environmental impact.

Unlike the pomp and circumstance that greeted the 200 million mark in 1967, federal officials this year are not planning any major events to welcome the 300 millionth American, who many say will likely be Hispanic and possibly an illegal immigrant.

A spokesperson at the Census Bureau said an announcement will be made to mark the coming milestone but there will be no celebrations of the scale organised by President Lyndon Johnson for the 200-million benchmark.

A hot-button topic

One reason is that illegal immigration is a hot-button topic that has sparked huge debate across the United States and is a key issue in upcoming legislative elections in November.

"There is nothing to celebrate, unless you think high housing costs and remarkable congestion and school overcrowding are reasons for celebration," said John Keely, spokesperson for the Centre for Immigration Studies, a Washington think-tank that seeks tighter immigration controls. "And much of that is linked to immigration and rapid population growth."

There is also concern about the environmental impact of the growing population, which is expected to reach 400 million by mid-century and 600 million by the end of the 21st century.

"This 300 million mark is a good time for us to focus attention on the US population and its environmental impacts," said Vicky Markham, director of the Centre for Environment and Population, based in Connecticut. "In some ways you have to appreciate the kind of growth and prosperity in your country but on the other hand I see what kind of implications this has for the natural environment.

"That's where the glass is half full and half empty."

US citizens wreaking havoc on environment

Markham pointed out that although the United States currently represents about five percent of the world population, its citizens are wreaking havoc on the environment at a rate surpassing any other country.

Americans, for example, produce five pounds of trash daily, five times the average in developing countries and the country is losing 3000 acres of farmland every single day, mainly for development purposes.

"Land is developed at twice the rate of population growth today," Markham said. "In other words, each American occupies 20 percent more developed land, for things like housing, schools and roads and shopping centres, than they did two decades ago."

According to census figures, about half of the growth since 1967 has come from Hispanics whose demographic growth by far has outpaced African-Americans', and accounts today for 14 percent (42.7 million) of the US population.

That figure is set to increase to 25 percent, or 102.6 million, by 2050, according to the Census Bureau.

It is also expected that in the next 50 years there will be more Hispanic births in the United States than immigrants.

A return to immigrant past needed

"What the new population growth represents is a return to our immigrant past," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington and a professor at the University of Michigan.

He said although today's baby boomers, who make up 26 percent of the population, have put their mark on the US identity in the last decades and control the main positions of power, that will no longer be the case as the younger immigrant population ages.

"It will be a gradual change before we see the positions of power being taken by the new immigrants groups but I think it will happen, maybe in 20 years," Frey said.

He said the changing ethnic makeup of the United States and the new immigrants should be welcomed, rather than scorned, as they represent the future of the country.

"I think the political battle over immigration policy is short-lived and we will realize the positive impacts immigrants bring to the labour force," Frey said. "Something about our heritage as an immigrant country will allow this to happen."

He predicted that the United States in the next 20 years could also see its first Hispanic president elected.

"I think that's possible, but maybe by the time that happens we won't call him a Latino, we'll just call him an American," he said.

US population has tripled in less than a century

The United States was founded in 1776 but took 139 years to hit a population of 100 million in 1915; 52 more to reach 200 million in 1967; and just 39 more to top 300 million as of October.

Here are some highlights from the US Census Bureau:


A nation of immigrants: As in 1915, when there were 13.5 million immigrants — 15 percent of the US population — immigrants now number 35.7 million, or 12.4 percent of the total population. The 2006 figures mark a sharp rise from 1967, when 9.7 million immigrants comprised just five percent of the total population.
In 1915, the greatest numbers of immigrants came from Germany.

In 1967, they were from Italy.

By 2006, the greatest numbers were from Mexico, next door.


The size of households has continued to shrink from 4.5 people in 1915, to 3.3 in 1967, to 2.6 in 2006.

More people are achieving the American dream of home ownership, rising from 45.9 percent of the population in 1915, to 63.6 percent in 1967 to 68.9 percent in 2006.

The population is greying. There were 4.5 million people over 65 in 1915; 19.1 million in 1967; and 36.8 million in 2006.

Cars keep adding up: from 2.5 million in 1915, racing to 98.9 million in 1967 and 237.2 million in 2006.
AFP







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