Stories & Lifestyle: Fast population increase in the US

In our last newsletter, we told you about the birth of the 300 millionth American. A reason for us to research what the consequences about this fast population increase in the US are going to be.

First off, some facts: at the beginning of the 20th century, the world's population was under 2 billion. Now it is approx. 6.5 billion - and increasing. Every 14 years, the world's population grows by 1 billion. If this continues, in 50 years the world's population will be 9.1 billion. At the same time, urbanization continues. In 2007 already, half of the world's population will be living in the cities - humankind is developing into an "urban species," according to a report of the Washington "Population Connection." This will increase the energy and environmental problems - e.g. the concentration of CO2 emissions.

US IN THIRD PLACE The hot spots of this development are just as obvious. 1.3 billion people are living in China, 1.1 billion in India, 300 million in the US. This makes the US, apart from Russia with 143 million and Japan with 128 million, the only industrial country on the list of the ten most populated countries.

Lawrence Smith, president of the Population Institute in Washington says that by the middle of the century, the US will still be the third most populated country in the world with by then 450 million, but they will be the only industrial country in the top ten. One American is born every 11 seconds in the third largest country in the world, that is an increase of 2.8 million a year. While Europe is facing demographic changes due to low birth rates, the US increased their population from 200 million to 300 million within 39 years.

It is first and foremost the high number of immigrants that is responsible for this significant population increase. Four out of ten new Americans every year are immigrants, Smith explains.

No other country is quite as attractive for immigrants as the US. Most US immigrants are from Mexico. They send $18 billion every year to their home country. The only larger foreign transfer is derived from the Mexican oil. While during the 1960s and 70s the immigrants were mostly living in the suburbs of the big cities, ever since the 80s they have been drawn to the downtown areas. In 2000, they were one of the biggest decisive factors for the demographic development of US cities such as Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington. In New York, for example, the percentage of foreign-born people rose from 28 to 40. Immigration - both legal and illegal, accounts for 40% of population growth. So the 300 millionth American would already have been born much earlier, since the Census Bureau estimates the number of illegal immigrants in the US somewhere between 11 million and 12 million. Some population experts even see this as an understatement.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS FORESEEABLE The continuous increase in the American population means that serious environmental problems are to be expected. The consumption rate of an American family of four is ten times higher than of a family of eight in a developing country. Environmentalists are worried by this development, because more Americans will use more energy and natural resources. Especially because the population growth doesn't occur in fully developed areas, but the cities keep growing and urban sprawl is a common phenomenon. Big houses, big lots and great malls - the US has developed into a country full of suburbs, Vicky Markham, director of the Center for Environment and Population, says. This urban sprawl leads to more cars and more frequent use of cars. And William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution, sums it up like this: "It's not the population, it's the consumption that can do us in."

For more information, please refer to www.brook.edu/index/research.htm.