U.S. Child Poverty Rates Increase Despite Rising National Incomes
Household incomes increased in the United States for the third straight year, yet the poverty rate has not budged, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey. The child poverty rate reached its highest level since 1998. (August 2008)

2008 World Population Data Sheet Webcast
PRB's 2008 World Population Data Sheet was released at a press briefing at the National Press Club, in Washington, DC, on Aug. 19, 2008. This year's theme: "Global Demographic Divide Widens." (August 2008)

World Population Highlights: Key Findings From PRB's 2008 World Population Data Sheet (PDF: 854KB)
This Population Bulletin is the companion report to PRB's 2008 World Population Data Sheet. The Bulletin highlights key findings from the data sheet on: world population trends, nutrition, environment, HIV/AIDS, urbanization, and migration. (BUL63.3, September 2008)

2008 World Population Data Sheet

  PRB's 2008 World Population Data Sheet contains the latest population estimates, projections, and other key indicators for more than 200 countries, including births, deaths, natural increase, infant mortality, life expectancy, urban population, HIV/AIDS prevalence, contraceptive use, GNI PPP per capita, and population per square kilometer. New for the 2008 Data Sheet are data on percent of population in urban areas of 750,000 or more; lifetime risk of maternal death; percent of population undernourished; number of vehicles per 1,000 population; and percent of population with access to an improved drinking water source. (August 2008) 

U.S. Population Projected to Hit 400 Million in 2039
The U.S. population is set to reach 400 million by 2039, four years earlier than previously projected, according to new population projections from the U.S. Census Bureau. Whites are projected to drop below 50 percent of the U.S. population by 2042, according to the new data. (August 2008)

HIV/AIDS Behaviors and Interventions in Chinese Americans
The prevalence of HIV/AIDS increased faster among Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States than in any other group between 2001 and 2004. Asians and Pacific Islanders are the only major U.S. racial or ethnic group with a statistically significant annual increase in the rate of new HIV infections during the first half of the decade, a time when blacks and Hispanics saw their rates decrease. (August 2008)

10% of U.S. Counties Now 'Majority-Minority'
Immigration and higher fertility among minorities have put the United States on a path to become "majority-minority," when less than 50 percent of the population will be non-Hispanic white. Racial and ethnic minorities, which currently account for one-third of the U.S. population, are projected to reach 50 percent by 2050. But new 2007 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show that about 10 percent (302) of the country's 3,141 counties have already passed that mark. (August 2008)

PRB Discuss Online: "Americans at Work: What Lies Ahead?"
The aging of baby boomers and the fact that women's labor force participation has already peaked are expected to slow U.S. labor force growth in the near future. Globalization is also changing the size and composition of the U.S. workforce. Foreign-born workers have contributed 40 percent of the labor force growth between 1990 and 2000, and global corporate restructuring is shifting production from high-wage countries to low-wage countries. In this PRB Discuss Online, Marlene A. Lee, senior research associate and editor of the Population Bulletin at PRB, and Mark Mather, associate vice president of Domestic Programs at PRB, answered participants' questions on this topic. Read a transcript of the questions and answers. (June 2008)

2008 KIDS COUNT Data Book: Well-Being of U.S. Children Improves in Some Ways, Slips in Others
National trends in child well-being have improved slightly since 2000, according to the 2008 KIDS COUNT Data Book. The 2008 Data Book also presents a clear path to reducing the number of children and youth in America's justice system. The annual Data Book, published by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation with technical assistance from the Population Reference Bureau, ranks U.S. states according to 10 indicators of child well-being. (June 2008)

U.S. Labor Force Trends

This Population Bulletin examines demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the U.S. civilian labor force and changes since 1950, and relates these trends to demographic and institutional changes and economic restructuring internationally and within the United States. (BUL63.2; June 2008)