Projected U.S. Population Growth Greater Than All Other Developed Countries Combined

Most CAPS supporters and readers of this blog probably sense intuitively – and correctly – that the U.S. population is increasing faster – adding more people – than any other developed country on Earth.

Figures from the 2013 World Population Data Sheet of the authoritative Washington, D.C.-based Population Reference Bureau (PRB) give an idea of just how far out of whack projected U.S. population growth is compared with all other industrialized countries in Europe, Asia and Oceania.

The PRB showed the population of all 50 or so “more developed” countries in the world as 1,246,000,000 (1.246 billion) in mid-2013. By 2050, the combined population of all these countries is projected to increase by 65 million net to 1,311,000,000 (1.311 billion).

The United States, in its turn, had a population estimated at 316.2 million in mid-2013, comprising one-fourth (25%) of the entire population of all “more developed” countries on Earth combined. By 2050, the PRB projects the U.S. to increase by 83.6 million to 399.8 million.

That is to say, the projected population increase of 83.6 million in the USA alone is greater than the entire net 65 million increase of all “more developed” countries combined, including the USA.

What the heck? How is this even mathematically possible? The U.S. is, after all, a “more developed” country too. How can its increase alone exceed the net increase of all other “more developed” countries combined?

It is mathematically possible only because the populations of a number of “more developed” countries will actually have begun to decrease by 2050; whereas, the U.S. population will still be increasing quite rapidly, because of immigration. (That is, unless our nation’s politicians were to come to their senses and reduce discretionary immigration levels, but if anything, at the relentless bidding of powerful vested interests, they are moving in the opposite direction.)

The table below lists the 20 biggest “more developed” countries, arranged in descending order by the size of their mid-2013 populations. Columns in the table include mid-2013 population, projected 2050 population, and increase (or decrease) from 2013-2050.

If we compare U.S. population growth only with those other countries whose populations will also still be increasing by 2050, the U.S. increase is still more than five times greater than our nearest rival (the UK). The U.S. increase of 83.6 million easily exceeds the 52.8 million combined increase of all other countries with growing populations.

American population activists often erroneously assert that the U.S. has the highest immigration rate and the highest population growth rate among developed countries, but neither of these assertions is true. A number of much smaller countries have higher immigration rates – measured as “net migration rate per 1,000 population” – than we do.

PRB estimates the 2013 U.S. “net migration rate per 1,000 population” at two people. By contrast, Sweden’s is five, Canada’s is seven, Norway’s is nine, and Australia’s is ten. However, even though the American immigration rate is lower than these other popular immigrant destinations, we admit many more immigrants in aggregate than any of these countries do because our population is many times larger.

Both Canada and Australia have substantially higher annual rates of population increase than the USA because of their runaway immigration levels. Canada’s is 1.1%; Australia’s 1.7%, compared to America’s 0.7%. Canada’s doubling time is 64 years and Australia’s 41 years. The American doubling time is 70 years. Yet our population grew by 2.7 million from 2012 to 2013, while the combined population growth of Canada and Australia was 1.5 million.

There are many things Americans are proud of, and justifiably so. Adding more people to our already bloated population than all other developed nations on Earth combined is not one of them. A scrawny adolescent adding 10 pounds of muscle during his growth spurt has something to be proud of; not so an obese adult adding 10 more pounds of fat.