Topic: Population Basics

Appalachia's Slow Growth Not Seen in All Its Counties
Appalachia's residents remain older, less educated, and less racially diverse than the United States as a whole, but those population trends vary widely by county, according to the 2011 Appalachian Regional Commission report prepared by the Population Reference Bureau. (January 2012)

China Has Too Many Bachelors
Dudley Poston is fascinated by China's "demographic exceptionalism." The country has the world's largest population, and in the 1970s managed to achieve one of the fastest fertility declines in human history. China's one-child population policy has resulted in a number of unique demographic events and transitions, including an imbalance of the sex ratio at birth. Millions of extra boys have been born: Already, 41 million bachelors will not have women to marry. If nothing is done to change this trend, Poston noted, by 2020 there will be 55 million extra boys in China. As part of PRB's 2011-2012 Policy Seminar series, Poston discussed China's fertility control policies. He is a professor of sociology and director of the Asian Studies Program at Texas A&M University. (January 2012)

A Post-Recession Update on U.S. Social and Economic Trends
The Great Recession in the United States began in December 2007 and officially ended in June of 2009, resulting in a broad-based decline in America's economic well-being and security. This Population Bulletin Update is a follow-up to the 2010 Population Bulletin, "U.S. Economic and Social Trends Since 2000," by Linda A. Jacobsen and Mark Mather, and provides new data and analysis on the ongoing impact of the recession in the United States. (December 2011)

Kenya Population Data Sheet 2011
Kenya's population is growing rapidly and has more than tripled from 11 million people in 1969 to 39 million people in 2009. Given the high number of births per woman, the population will continue to increase steadily. Even if the total fertility rate declines from an average of 4.6 children per woman in 2009 to 3.7 by 2030, the population will still grow to 66 million. (December 2011)

A Post-Recession Update on U.S. Social and Economic Trends (cont'd.)
The Great Recession in the United States began in December 2007 and officially ended in June of 2009, resulting in a broad-based decline in America's economic well-being and security. This Population Bulletin Update is a follow-up to the 2010 Population Bulletin, "U.S. Economic and Social Trends Since 2000," by Linda A. Jacobsen and Mark Mather, and provides new data and analysis on the ongoing impact of the recession in the United States. (December 2011)

Latest Demographic and Health Surveys Show Varied Progress in Health and Fertility
PRB senior demographer Carl Haub's series of blog posts have summarized data on reproductive health and maternal and child health from recently released Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for a number of developing countries: Nepal, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Malawi, and Senegal. Haub also reported on new information from Vietnam, Poland, Russia, India, China, and Taiwan. (November 2011)

U.S. Megalopolises 50 Years Later
Exactly 50 years ago, geographer Jean Gottmann coined the term "megalopolis" to describe the sprawling regional mega-city taking shape between Boston and Washington, D.C. But a somewhat different story has unfolded over the past 50 years, says Mark Mather, co-author of PRB's "First Results From the 2010 Census." "The three megalopolises' share of U.S. population actually declined somewhat between 1960 and 2010," says Mather. "Rather than growing to encompass one-half of the U.S. population, the three areas are only home to about one-third of all U.S. residents." (November 2011)

Media Coverage of 'World Population Reaches 7 Billion'
Here are several articles and web resources about world population reaching 7 billion. The United Nations has designated Oct. 31, 2011, as the day that world population reached 7 billion. (October 2011)

In 2011, World Population Surpasses 7 Billion
World population has surpassed 7 billion, and we are in the midst of history's most rapid population expansion. The sixth billion and the seventh billion were added in record time—only 12 years for each milestone. (October 2011)

Distilled Demographics: How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?
The question of how many people have ever lived on Earth is a perennial one among information calls to PRB. One reason the question keeps coming up is that somewhere, at some time back in the 1970s, a writer made the statement that 75 percent of the people who had ever been born were alive at that moment. But if we judge the idea that three-fourths of people who ever lived are alive today to be a ridiculous statement, have demographers come up with a better estimate? What might be a reasonable estimate of the actual percentage? In this video, PRB senior visiting scholar Carl Haub, with some speculation concerning prehistoric populations, approaches a guesstimate of this elusive number. (October 2011)