American Attitudes and U.S. Population Growth
The U.S. Census Bureau s announcement that the country s population grew 7.4% over the past decade to 331,449,281 may seem like significant growth but in reality, it represents the second-lowest decade-to-decade growth rate since the U.S. Census began in 1790, behind only the stagnant growth of the 1930s during the Great Depression.
What are the implications of a slowing growth rate? We have seen many arguments historically that slowing growth could be a good thing. One may recall Paul Ehrlich s bestselling 1968 book,
The Population Bomb which, according to some reports, incited a worldwide fear of overpopulation, horrifying readers by arguing that because of population growth hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death. Indeed, by 1992, Gallup polling showed 68% of Americans were worried about a great increase in population, although worry fell back to 48% by 1999, the last time Gallup asked about it. The worl