Article: American Population Passes 300 Million; Despite Great Wealth Average American is Unhappy

--Because people have more options in consumer goodies like a flat screen television with both a 60 inch screen and premium sound, they cannot have everything they want and feel disappointed says Barry Schwartz, a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College. "The more options you look at, the more you have to give up," he says.

--The census bureau confirms that the rich are getting richer and the middle 60% of wage earners have a slight decline in income. The middle 60% of wage earners dipped to 46% in 2005 from 52% in both 1965 and 1975.

--Since 1967, the Gross Domestic Product in America is up by a factor of four. Our population of 300 million shares a total wealth of $12.5 trillion, or $41,579 per capita, compared to the $3.8 trillion, or $18,951 per capita, enjoyed by 200 million people back in 1967.

--The average American makes 25% more than his father did 30 years ago, even after inflation.

--American families are having more children because they are somewhat wealthier. 11 percent of U.S. births in 2004 were to women who already had three children, up from 10 percent in 1995.

--We are a much more diverse nation that we have been in the past. In 1967 when the population hit 200 million, more than 80 percent of all Americans were white and less than 5 percent were Hispanic. Less than 1 percent were Asian. Today, Hispanics make up nearly 15 percent of the population and Asians about 5 percent. White non-Hispanics account for about 67 percent, blacks a little more than 13 percent.

--Demographers expect the population of the United States to reach 400 million by the year 2043. They believe that by then, our population will only be about half white. The other half will be made up of people who are black, Hispanic and Asian.

-- The U.S. adds about 2.8 million people a year, a growth rate of less than 1 percent.

--Another person is added to our population every 11 seconds.

--34.3 million foreign-born people live in the United States today, comprising about 12 percent of the country's total population. Mexico is the leading country of origin.

--In 1967, there were about 9.7 million foreign-born people in the United States, comprising about 5 percent of the total population. At the time, the largest number of foreign-born people came from Italy.

-- Americans now live an average 77.8 years, compared to 70.5 years in 1967. The population is also aging, with about 36.8 million people age 65 or older, compared to 19.1 million in 1967.

--Only China and India have larger populations than the United States. China's population is estimated at 1,306,313,812. China has a family "One Child Policy" that prohibits families from having larger families. Some estimate that as many as 400 million people do not exist in China because of this policy.

--The population in India was 1,027,015,247 in 2001. India's population rose by 21.34 % between 1991 - 2001. Today's population in India is estimated at 1,099,759,860.

--According to the Washington based Population Reference Bureau (PRB) which watches trends in world population, "nearly 99% of all population increase takes place in poor countries." The U.S., India and China are the exceptions. The populations of most European countries are growing only slowly or declining. The populations of Russia and the Eastern European countries are all in decline.

-- Evolutionary expert Dr. Oliver Curry of the Darwin research center at the London School of Economics says that by the year 3,000 the average human will be 6ft 6in tall, live to the age of 120 and have brown skin.

Next Page 1 | 2 | 3

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).