Happy New Year, America — all 305,529,237 of you

December

That’s the Census Bureau’s estimate of the U.S. population for tomorrow, Jan. 1, 2009. The number is up 2,743,429, or 0.9 percent, from New Year’s Day 2008.

Here’s an easy prediction for the New Year: We’ll be hearing a lot more about the Census Bureau as it prepares for the 2010 decennial headcount. Meanwhile, here’s the agency’s outlook on population growth in the near term. It’s a little mind-bending.

In January 2009, one birth is expected to occur every eight seconds in the United States and one death every 12 seconds. Meanwhile, net international migration is expected to add one person every 36 seconds to the U.S. population in January 2009, resulting in an increase in the total U.S. population of one person every 14 seconds.

(Photo: New Year’s in Malaysia, AP)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 3:10 pm by Leah Rae.
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