Men  Women

Source: "The 2007 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and the Disability Insurance Trust Funds," 2007, Social Security Administration @ Infobase Publishing

The West. Nevada’s population increased 66.3 percent in the 1990s, Arizona by 40 percent, Colorado grew at 30.6 percent, Utah saw a 29.6 percent increase, and Idaho increased its population by 28.5 percent. The five slowest-growing states are: Maine (3.8), Connecticut (3.6), Pennsylvania (3.4), West Virginia (.8), and North Dakota (.5). The District of Columbia lost 5.7 percent of its population in the 1990s.

Since 1970 the trend of more females than males in the nation has continued. Not since the 1940 census has there been more males than females. In 1970 women outnumbered men 104,300,000 to 98,912,000—a ratio of 105 women for every 100 men. By 1980 the ratio had grown to 106 women for every 100 men, and the population had increased to 116,493,000 females and 110,053,000 males. In 1990 the population of males was 121,239,000 to 127,470,000 females, bringing the ratio back to approximately 105 females to 100 males. By 2000 there were 138,054,000 males and 143,368,000 females, dropping the ratio to 103 females to every 100 males. This sudden drop in the ratio of females to males is accounted for by increased immigration and a falling death rate.

The period since 1970 has witnessed the continued urbanization of the nation. In 1970, 73.6 percent of the population lived in urban areas. This figure increased to 73.9 percent in 1980 and 75.2 in 1990. In 2000 the population living in urban areas was 79 percent.

The policies established for the collection of racial statistics in the 2000 census have effectively eliminated any meaningful comparison with previous census data; respondents were given the choice of picking from multiple racial categories to indicate their racial identity. About 2.4 percent of the population picked multiple categories. Of the remaining population, 75.1 percent picked “White,” 12.3 percent selected “African American,” 0.9 percent picked “American Indian and Alaskan Native,” 3.6 percent picked “Asian,” 0.1 percent selected “Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander,” and 5.5 percent picked “Some other race.” Among the Asians, 23 percent of respondents indicated their heritage to be Chinese, 18.1 percent were Filipino, and 16.4 percent were Indian. Information on Hispanics was collected under a separate question. Hispanic Americans accounted for 13 percent of the population.

The foreign-born population of the United States had dropped to a low of 9.6 million in 1970. From there, the numbers of foreign born showed steady increase, to 19.8 million in 1990, 31.1 million in 2000, and to 36 million in 2005. That number constituted 11.8 percent of the total U. S. population. A majority of these foreign-born residents lived in just four states, California (28 percent), New York (11.8 percent), Texas (9.8 percent), and Florida (8.9 percent). Just over half (52 percent) of the foreign born were from Latin America, with 27 percent from Asia and 15 percent from Europe. Immigrants from Mexico comprised 30 percent of the total foreign-born population, nearly 70 percent of whom lived in three states, California, Texas, and Illinois. Estimates of the number of illegal immigrants hovered at about 13 million, with a range of anywhere from 7 to 20 million.

The median age of the population has been increasing steadily for the past 40 years. The median age in 1970 was 28.1, increased to 30 in 1980, 32.9 in 1990, and 35.3 in 2000. The size of the 45-to-54 age groups increased 49 percent to 37.7 million. The 65 and over age group increased 12 percent to 35 million. The number of children 18 and under increased 14 percent to 72.3 million. The number of young adults 18 to 34 declined by 4 percent. This decrease in the number of working-age young adults is pointed to by some as evidence of the looming crisis facing the nation when the BABY boomers retire and begin to collect Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Further reading: U. S. Census Bureau. Available online. URL: Http://www. census. gov/. Accessed December 30, 2008.

—John Korasick and Stephen E. Randoll