Population Profile of the United States

Report Outline
Groth of Population in United State
Patterns of Change in the Population
Population Growth in the Years Ahead
Special Focus

Groth of Population in United State

Approaching Attainment of 200-Milion Mark

At eleven O'CLOCK on the morning of November 20, 1967, the Census Clock in Washington, D. C., will tick off the arrival of the 200 millionth inhabitant of the United States. Exactly 14½ seconds later, the clock will move on to show a total population of 200,000,001. At the current rate of population growth, as estimated by the Bureau of the Census, approximately 250 persons are added to the population every hour.

Actually, the 200-million mark probably was reached many months ago. The official count is known to miss a number of floaters in the population; the census takers themselves estimate they overlooked 5.7 million Americans in 1960. But a difference of a few months or years in the time of passing the 200-million milestone does not alter the significance of the event as a reminder of the inexorable growth of population and the problems it presents for the future.

Until recently, the prospect of overpopulation in the United States seemed remote, if not non-existent. At the start, the country had so sparse a population and so vast a continent on which to expand that its capacity to accommodate more people seemed limitless. A declining birth rate during most of the years of national growth allayed fears of potential overpopulation and even gave rise to concern that economic stagnation might follow a population decline.