User:Watti Renew/Sandbox/United States Demographics

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Main articles: Demographics of the United States and Americans
Largest ancestry groups by county, 2000

Population in the United States (Millions)[1]:

  • 1971: 208
  • 1980: 228 (+ 20)
  • 1990: 250 (+ 22)
  • 2000: 282 (+ 32)
  • 2004: 293 (+ 11)
  • 2008: 304 (+ 11)
Race/Ethnicity (2010)[2]
White 72.4%
Black/African American 12.6%
Asian 4.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.9%
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander 0.2%
Other 6.2%
Two or more races 2.9%
Hispanic/Latino (of any race) 16.3%

The U.S. Census estimation of the US population is 336,416,000[3]. The US is the third populous country behind China and India.[1]


The population growth rate is 1% and birth rate 13.8 per 1,000 (30% below the world average.[4] In 2010, over 1 million immigrants received legal residence (mostly through family reunification).[5] Mexico (nr 1), China, India, and the Philippines are the major ex-home countries of the immigrants.[6]

The United States has a very diverse population—thirty-one ancestry groups have more than one million members.[7] White Americans are the largest racial group; German Americans, Irish Americans, and English Americans constitute three of the country's four largest ancestry groups. African Americans are the nation's largest racial minority and third largest ancestry group. Asian Americans are the country's second largest racial minority; the two largest Asian American ethnic groups are Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans.[7] In 2010, the U.S. population included an estimated 5.2 million people with some American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry.[8]

In 2007 total population was 301.3 million and 50.5 million (17 %) of Americans were of Hispanic descent and 64% of them Mexican descent.[8][9] From 2000 to 2010, the Hispanic population increased 43% and the non-Hispanics 4.9% [2] In 2007 12.6% (38 million) of the U.S. population was foreign-born, 20.5 million in Latin America.[10] Minorities (i.e. all but non-Hispanic and non-multiracial whites) share was 36.3% of the population in 2010.[11]

Ca 82% of Americans live in urban areas;[12] In 2008 nine cities had population over 1 million and four global cities over 2 million (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston), and 52 metropolitan areas with over 1 million.[13]

Population of the 10 largest US
cities and municipal areas (in thousands)[14]
City Region
New York 8,362 (1) 18,897 (1)
Los Angeles 3,832 (2) 12,829 (2)
Chicago 2,851 (3) 9,461 (3)
Houston 2,261 (4) 5,947 (7)
Dallas 1,300 (5) 6,372 (4)
Philadelphia 1,547 (6) 5,965 (6)
Washington, D.C. 602 (x) 5,582 (5)
Miami 399 (x) 5,565 (8)
Atlanta 420 (x) 5,268 (9)
Boston 618 (x) 4,552 (10)
Phoenix 1,594 (7) 4,193 (x)
San Antonio 1,374 (8) 2,143 (x)
San Diego 1,306 (9) 3,095 (x)
San José 965 (10) 1,837 (x)
(order no), x = not in top 10
Source: 2010 U.S. Census

Language[edit]

Main article: Languages of the United States
See also: Language Spoken at Home (U.S. Census)

The major spoken languages in 2007 were English (only) 225.5 million (80 %), Spanish, incl. Creole 34.5 million (12 %), Chinese 2.5 million and |French, incl. Creole 2.0 million.[15]

English is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English.

New Mexico has laws for the use of both English and Spanish, Louisiana for English and French.[16] and California mandate English and Spanish in certain government documents.[17] Many jurisdictions produce government materials, e.g. voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages. Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages.

Religion[edit]

A Presbyterian church; most Americans identify as Christian.
Main article: Religion in the United States
See also: History of religion in the United States, Freedom of religion in the United States, Separation of church and state in the United States, and List of religious movements that began in the United States

The United States is officially a secular nation; the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion and forbids the establishment of any religious governance. In a 2002 study, 59% of Americans said that religion played a "very important role in their lives", a far higher figure than that of any other wealthy nation.[18] According to a 2007 survey, 78.4% of adults identified themselves as Christian,[19] down from 86.4% in 1990.[20] Protestant denominations accounted for 51.3%, while Roman Catholicism, at 23.9%, was the largest individual denomination. The study categorizes white evangelicals, 26.3% of the population, as the country's largest religious cohort;[19] another study estimates evangelicals of all races at 30–35%.[21] The total reporting non-Christian religions in 2007 was 4.7%, up from 3.3% in 1990.[20] The leading non-Christian faiths were Judaism (1.7%), Buddhism (0.7%), Islam (0.6%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%).[19] The survey also reported that 16.1% of Americans described themselves as agnostic, atheist, or simply having no religion, up from 8.2% in 1990.[19][20]

Family structure[edit]

In 2007, 58% of Americans age 18 and over were married, 6% were widowed, 10% were divorced, and 25% had never been married.[22] Women now mostly work outside the home and receive a majority of bachelor's degrees.[23]

Same-sex marriage is a contentious issue. Some states permit civil unions or domestic partnerships in lieu of marriage. Since 2003, several states have legalized gay marriage as the result of judicial or legislative action. Meanwhile, the federal government and a majority of states define marriage as between a man and a woman and/or explicitly prohibit same-sex marriage. Public opinion on the issue has shifted from general opposition in the 1990s to a statistical deadlock as of 2011.[24]

The U.S. teenage pregnancy rate, 79.8 per 1,000 women, is the highest among OECD nations.[25] Abortion policy was left to the states until the Supreme Court legalized the practice in 1972. The issue remains highly controversial, with public opinion closely divided for many years. Many states ban public funding of the procedure and restrict late-term abortions, require parental notification for minors, and mandate a waiting period. While the abortion rate is falling, the abortion ratio of 241 per 1,000 live births and abortion rate of 15 per 1,000 women aged 15–44 remain higher than those of most Western nations.[26]

  1. ^ a b CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion Population 1971-2008 IEA pages 83-85
  2. ^ a b "2010 Census Data". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  3. ^ "U.S. POPClock Projection". U.S. Census Bureau. Figure updated automatically.
  4. ^ [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2054rank.html The World Factbook CIA, 009, accessdate=2009-10-11
  5. ^ U.S. Legal Permanent Residents: 2010 Office of Immigration Statistics Annual Flow Report.
  6. ^ Persons Obtaining Legal Permanent Resident Status by Region and Country of Birth: Fiscal Years 1998 to 2007 (Table 3), U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, accessdate=2008-09-06
  7. ^ a b Ancestry 2000 U.S.Census Bureau, June 2004, 2007-06-13
  8. ^ a b Humes, Karen R., Nicholas A. Jones, and Roberto R. Ramirez Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010 U.S. Census Bureau, March 2011, 2011-03-29
  9. ^ Hispanic or Latino Origin by Specific Origin B03001, 2007 American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau, 2008-09-26
  10. ^ Tables 41 and 42—Native and Foreign-Born Populations U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009, 2009-10-11]
  11. ^ US Census Bureau: "U.S. Census Bureau Delivers Final State 2010 Census Population Totals for Legislative Redistricting" see custom table, 2nd worksheet
  12. ^ The World Factbook CIA, United States, 2009-09-30, 2010-01-05 (area in km2}}
  13. ^ "Table 1: Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places Over 100,000, Ranked by July 1, 2008 Population: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008". 2008 Population Estimates. U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. 2009-07-01. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-07. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
  14. ^ Population U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States 2011 62 pages, Population metrop+cities p. 26 and 43, table 27 p.34-35
  15. ^ "Table 53—Languages Spoken at Home by Language: 2007" (PDF). Statistical Abstract of the United States 2010. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
  16. ^ Dicker, Susan J. (2003). Languages in America: A Pluralist View. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. pp. 216, 220–25. ISBN 1853596515.
  17. ^ "California Code of Civil Procedure, Section 412.20(6)". Legislative Counsel, State of California. Retrieved 2007-12-17. "California Judicial Council Forms". Judicial Council, State of California. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
  18. ^ "Among Wealthy Nations...U.S. Stands Alone in its Embrace of Religion". Pew Global Attitudes Project. Pew Research Center. 2002-12-19. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  19. ^ a b c d "Religious Composition of the U.S." (PDF). U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  20. ^ a b c Kosmin, Barry A., Egon Mayer, and Ariela Kaysar (2001-12-19). "American Religious Identification Survey 2001" (PDF). CUNY Graduate Center. Retrieved 2011-09-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ Green, John C. "The American Religious Landscape and Political Attitudes: A Baseline for 2004". University of Akron Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-07. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
  22. ^ "Table 55—Marital Status of the Population by Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1990 to 2007" (PDF). Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
  23. ^ "Women's Advances in Education". Columbia University, Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy. 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-06-09. Retrieved 2007-06-06.
  24. ^ "For First Time, Majority of Americans Favor Legal Gay Marriage". Gallup.com. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
  25. ^ "Teenage birth rate statistics – countries compared – NationMaster People". Nationmaster.com. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
  26. ^ Strauss, Lilo T.; et al. (2006-11-24). "Abortion Surveillance—United States, 2003". MMWR. Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Reproductive Health. Retrieved 2007-06-17. {{cite web}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)
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