Danielle Kurtzleben

The country is becoming older, more diverse, better educated, and more economically unequal

1. (Slowing) Growth

The most obvious and constant change to the U.S. population is growth. But 2010 census numbers show that population growth had dropped to 9.7 percent, its lowest level since the Great Depression. The U.S. growth rate has also lagged behind world population growth over the last decade. The 2010 census put the population at 308,745,538, up from 281,421,906 in 2000. The estimated world population of nearly 6.9 billion, meanwhile, is up 12.5 percent from 2000. However, U.S. growth remains ahead of many other developed nations, particularly European countries, whose populations may actually decline between now and 2050.

2. Moving West and South

U.S. population growth shows marked regional differences. While the West and South saw growth rates of 13.8 and 14.3 percent, respectively, over the last decade, the Midwest grew only by 3.9 percent, and the Northeast by a mere 3.2 percent. These figures reflect a movement of young people westward, as well as an immigrant population settling heavily in the south and west. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, the state with the largest share of foreign-born residents is California, with 26.9 percent. Another western state, Montana, posted the largest increase of foreign-born people over the last decade, with a 60.9 percent jump. The mean center of U.S. population has moved steadily westward and slightly southward since the first census, in 1790. Since that time, it has slowly shifted from Kent County, Maryland, to Plato, a town in southern Missouri.

3. Aging

The estimated population median age in 2009 was 36.8, up from 35.3 in 2000 -- a natural consequence of 77 million baby boomers pulling that figure upward with every passing year. The birth rate has also been relatively flat since the 1970s, and in 2009 posted the largest two-year drop in over 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Altogether, the elderly segment of the population is expected to increase dramatically. A Congressional Research Service report released this year projected that people 65 and older -- currently constituting 13 percent of the population -- would make up 20.2 percent of the U.S. population by 2050.

4. Becoming More Diverse (...and particularly, more Hispanic)

The white, non-Hispanic segment of the population is steadily shrinking, and has dropped from 69.1 percent in 2000 to 63.7 percent in 2010. The Census Bureau predicts that, by 2050, white people will only make up 46.3 percent of the population. The burgeoning Hispanic population is one major reason for this projected shift -- the Hispanic populace grew a staggering 43.1 percent from 2000 into 2010, and is expected to make up 30 percent of the population in 2050, up from its current share of 16 percent. Other groups expected to post significant growth are Asians, from 4.7 percent in 2010 to 7.8 percent in 2050, and people of two or more races, from 1.9 percent in 2010 to 3.7 percent in 2050.

5. Increasing Income Inequality

Income inequality in the United States has increased more or less steadily. As of 2009, the top 20 percent of households in the U.S. earned 50.3 percent of all household income, according to the Census Bureau. That figure is trending upward, from 49.7 percent in 2000 and 46.6 percent in 1990. In that same time frame, all other quintiles' shares of household income have dropped. The bottom 20 percent of all U.S. households in 2009 earned 3.3 percent of all wealth. One measure of inequality is the Gini index, which measures a population's income distribution on a scale of zero (total equality) to 1 (total inequality). That, too, has risen, according to the Census Bureau -- in 2000, the U.S. Gini index was 0.46, up from 0.45 in 1995. As of 2009, the Gini was up even further, at an estimated 0.469.

6. More Women with Diplomas

The U.S. population is getting more educated as a whole, with 87 percent of adults 25 and older having high school diplomas in 2010 -- up from 84 percent in 2000. But women in particular are helping to drive America's growing educational attainment. The Census Bureau reported this year that 37 percent of employed women have attained a bachelor's degree or more (as of 2010), compared to 35 percent of men. Women have also surpassed men in terms of advanced degrees; 10.6 million American women have master's degrees or higher, compared to 10.5 million men. However, men still have far more professional and doctoral degrees than women.

7. Waiting to Procreate

An increasing number of those educated women are putting off childbearing. According to the Census Bureau, among women aged 25 to 34 in 2000, 83 percent with less than a high-school education had given birth, compared to 42 percent of women with bachelor's degrees. But 10 years later, the gap within that same cohort had closed considerably -- 88 percent of women without high school diplomas had children, as well as 76 percent of women with bachelor's degrees.

 

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7 Ways the United States Population is Changing