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By John E. Carey
October 18, 2006

In case you missed it, the population of the United States passed the 300 million person mark at approximately 7:46 a.m. Eastern Times on Tuesday October 17, 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

America is, by many measures, the wealthiest country in the world. Despite that, many Americans are unhappy. Mark Clements Research conducted a survey of Americans for Parade Magazine last April. The findings? 48% of Americans believe they're worse off than their parents were.

The GFK-Roper conducted a study in June that found 66% of Americans said their personal situations in the "Good Old Days"--defined as the era between the 1950s and the 1980s--were better than they are today. In May, a Pew Research Center poll showed that half of U.S. adults believe the current trends point toward their children's future being worse than their own present.

But the facts show that Americans should be happier. Largely due to soaring real estate values, the typical American household has a net worth of $465,970, up 83% from 1965, 60% from 1985 and 35% from 1995.

But there is a problem with this measure as the money or value in your house or property is not generally "spendable."

Economist Milton Friedman espouses something called "Permanent Income Theory." This theory says that most people measure where they are relative to where they expected to be a few years ago. They don't care that when actually measured, they are "wealthier" than before. They don't feel better off.

Other population factors like urban crowding and our increasingly congested traffic on the roads influences Americans toward believing that they are not better off.

"If you expect a 3% rise in income and you get 2.5%, you're disappointed," says Ken Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board, a private research group in New York.

Here are some of the facts and figures relative to our growing population:

--According to the Pew Hispanic Center, it has been 39 years since the U.S. population reached 200 million. Since then, about 55 percent of the growth has come from immigrants, their children and their grandchildren.

--If the U.S. had cut off all immigration since 1967, the population would be about 245 million - and a lot less diverse, said Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer at the center.

--According to Passel, "We've had much more Asian and Latino immigration than white and black. That has led to the racial and ethnic diversity that we have today."

--At the top of our society, the super rich are getting richer. Wal-Mart Chief Lee Raymond "earned" $19 million last year. That was 410 times what the average American made, as opposed to the $469,000 a year earned by Exxon's Ken Jamieson in 1975, which was a mere 40 times more.

--Tiger Woods "earned" $87 million last year.

-- Bill Gates had a net worth of $53 billion last year or 133,741 times that of the average American.

--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.

Victoria Markham, the director of the Centre for Environment and Population, said that although the US accounted for only five percent of the global population, its inhabitants made "the largest environmental impact in the world."

According to their web site, "The Center for Environment and Population (CEP) is a non-profit research, policy and public outreach organization that addresses the relationship between human population, resource consumption, and the environment."

"I think the 300-million mark is reason to celebrate a great nation," she said. "But a nation isn't great if its citizens can't take a critical look at who they are and how they are a player in the global context," said Ms. Markham.

Authors Website: http://peace-and-freedom.blogspot.com/

Authors Bio:
John E. Carey is the former president of International Defense Consultants, Inc.