The United States at Mid-Decade

Population Bulletin, Vol. 50, No. 4, March 1996

by Carol J. De Vita

Introduction

Three words describe the U.S. population in the mid-1990s: large, diverse, and growing. Demographic change has shaped the nation's past. It will continue to be a powerful influence in shaping the country's future.

With 262.8 million people in 1995, the United States is the third largest country in the world. Only China and India have larger populations. The United States is also one of the world's fastest growing industrialized countries. During the first half of the 1990s, the U.S. population grew by 1.0 percent per year and added approximately 2.7 million people annually. In contrast, the average growth rate for Western Europe was only 0.4 percent per year; for Japan it was 0.3 percent per year. Only three industrialized countries � Australia, New Zealand, and Canada � come close to matching the U.S. growth rate, but the United States far surpasses these nations in the absolute number of people added each year.

Current population projections foresee no reversal of this trend in the next 50 years, although the rate of growth is forecast to slow in the years ahead. By 2010, the U.S. population is likely to exceed 300 million; by 2050, it could reach 392 million.

Births and immigrants add to the growing numbers of Americans, but it is fertility, not immigration, that is the major engine of change. About 70 percent of growth in the mid-1990s can be attributed to natural increase (that is, the number of births minus deaths). The arrival of new immigrants accounted for roughly 30 percent of net population growth. An important distinction between these factors is that immigrants are self-selected. Unlike newborns, they choose to move to the United States and make it their home.

Not only will there be more Americans in the years ahead, but the nation's population will also become more diverse � a diversity that will take many forms and will shape the way Americans view their society and their nation.

The full text of this Population Bulletin is available in print only. Please visit our online store to order. Listed below are all the sections of this Bulletin.

Introduction
Geographic Patterns of Growth and Change
Changing Age Structure
An Emerging Racial/Ethnic Mosaic
A Nation of Immigrants
American Families
Income and Poverty
Looking Toward the Future
References
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