Population Growth

The Hispanic population in the United States grew by 43% in the last decade, surpassing 50 million and accounting for about 1 out of 6 Americans, the Census Bureau reported Thursday. Analysts seized on data showing that the growth was propelled by a surge in births in the U.S., rather than immigration, pointing to a growing generational shift in which Hispanics continue to gain political clout and, by 2050, could make up a third of the U.S. population. "In the adult population, many immigrants helped the increase, but the child population is increasingly more Hispanic," said D'Vera Cohn, a senior writer at the Pew Research Center.

California's population will grow more slowly in the next few decades than it has in the past - and that is good for the state's still-struggling economy, according to a new USC report. The study projects that the state's population, now 37.3 million, will continue to increase at a healthy clip - about 1% annually - for years to come. But at least through 2050, we are unlikely to see the boom rates of recent decades, especially the 1980s. "This is more manageable growth and that's good news for California," said Dowell Myers, a USC demography and urban planning professor who co-wrote the report with colleague John Pitkin.

California's population will grow more slowly in the next few decades than it has in the past - and that is good for the state's still-struggling economy, according to a new USC report. The study projects that the state's population, now 37.3 million, will continue to increase at a healthy clip - about 1% annually - for years to come. But at least through 2050, we are unlikely to see the boom rates of recent decades, especially the 1980s. "This is more manageable growth and that's good news for California," said Dowell Myers, a USC demography and urban planning professor who co-wrote the report with colleague John Pitkin.

Is it something we said? It seems that California's population growth has slowed dramatically and will continue that trend through 2050. Not only that, but immigration from Mexico to the United States (and let's face it, many of those folks end up in the Golden State) has come to a statistical standstill. No wonder my drive to work today was so easy! Now, the USC researchers who studied the state's population growth made clear that the state will continue to add people.  (We're at about 37 million happy, healthy, sun-blessed, laid-back souls today.)

Is anyone really surprised by SCAG's new population growth projections for Southern California (July 23)? They shouldn't be. California's population has doubled roughly every 25 years for the last century, a growth rate that more closely resembles Third World countries than a developed nation. And we have the highest fertility rate of any state in the nation. The predictions of persistent high unemployment, infrastructure problems and declining standard of living shouldn't surprise anyone either.

Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles -- For years, America's growing and mobile Latino population helped transform cities such as Atlanta and Las Vegas as well as many smaller communities. But the deep recession slowed this great dispersion, a new analysis shows, raising economic and political implications. Between 2000 and 2010, the nation's Latino population jumped 43% to 50.5 million, growing especially fast throughout the South and in smaller metropolitan areas in the Midwest and Northeast.

If this is the season to be merry, many residents of Hollywood did not get the memo. Instead, they got a community development plan they look upon as their very own nightmare before Christmas. It happened earlier this month, when the Los Angeles City Planning Commission approved zoning changes that could make it easier to erect skyscrapers in the heart of Hollywood, forever changing the scale of a historic neighborhood with international cachet. They say the high-rises will block views, throw shadows and obscure the landmark Capitol Records building, and make already unbearable traffic even worse.

  Aastha Arora is one in a billion. At least that's what they called her when she was born on May 11, 2000. Designated with great fanfare as the symbolic 1 billionth Indian, Aastha - her name means "faith" in Hindi - is now called something different. "They call me 'the special child' at school," the perky sixth-grader said, in the family's two-room apartment. "Teachers, friends know about the big ruckus when I was born. " In the last 11 years, India has added 240 million people and, according to U.N. estimates, is on target to surpass China as the world's most populous nation in 2020.

It took only a dozen years for humanity to add another billion people to the planet, reaching the milestone of 7 billion Monday — give or take a few months. Demographers at the United Nations Population Division set Oct. 31, 2011, as the "symbolic" date for hitting 7 billion, while acknowledging that it's impossible to know for sure the specific time or day. Using slightly different calculations, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the 7-billion threshold will not be reached until March.

The United Nations has identified Monday as the day world population hits 7 billion. Many find the Halloween date appropriate given the frightening prospect of this demographic milestone. As if 7 billion weren't scary enough, the U.N. projects 10 billion people by 2083, the addition of roughly three more Indias. But the parents of the 7-billionth person should not be afraid for their child's future. In spite of the daunting challenges facing the world, including global warming, rising food prices and a billion people in poverty, the 7-billionth child will almost surely have a better life than the 3-billionth or 6-billionth child.

Amid all the talk of gloom and doom in the United States, with the stock market's near-crash and the renewed threat of a double-dip recession, it is worth pausing to remember that the United States remains the greatest country on Earth. It is also the country with the most promising future. I make these assertions not as a matter of national pride, but as an analytical conclusion. This is not to discourage serious attention to deficit reduction, economic renewal and political reform — all of which we greatly need — or to trivialize the country's admittedly serious problems.

On his last day on the job, presidential economics advisor Austan Goolsbee conceded that the economy is in a “bit of a slog" though he seemed skeptical that the nation is about to fall into another recession. Goolsbee, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, said the economy was pummeled by crises in Europe and Japan, coupled with high gas prices. Still, he said an array of forecasts show the U.S. economy is likely to “rebound" in the second half of the year. “We're in a bit of a slog," said Goolsbee, who is returning to his tenured position at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.

The Neanderthal never stood a chance. Modern humans who entered Europe may have outnumbered their hominid relatives 10 to 1, a new study has found. The research, published online Thursday in the journal Science, helps explain why Neanderthals — who had lived in Europe for at least 200,000 years — died out about 40,000 years ago, soon after modern humans migrated from Africa. Researchers had long surmised that human population growth may have overrun the Neanderthals, said study lead author Paul Mellars, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge in England.