From Steven Camarota at the Center For Immigration Studies
Census: Population Up 27 Million in Just 10 Years
Contact: Steven A. Camarota, [email protected], (202)466-8185
WASHINGTON (December 21, 2010) — Most of the media coverage of the 2010 Census will likely focus on the country's changing racial composition and the redistribution of seats in Congress. But neither of these is the most important finding. Rather, it is the dramatic increase in the size of the U.S. population itself that has profound implications for our nation's quality of life and environment. Most of the increase has been, and will continue to be, a result of one federal policy: immigration. Projections into the future from the Census Bureau show we are on track to add 130 million more people to the U.S. population in the just the next 40 years, primarily due to future immigration.
- Immigration accounted for three-quarters of population growth during the decade. Census Bureau data found 13.1 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) who arrived in the last 10 years; there were also about 8.2 million births to immigrant women during the decade.1
- The numerical increase of 27.3 million this decade is exceeded by only two other decades in American history.
- Without a change in immigration policy, the nation is projected to add roughly 30 million new residents each decade for the foreseeable future.[More]
Actually it is the "changing racial composition" and the redistribution of seats in Congress, plus voters, that are important. If the same increase had been caused by everyone you know having three or four kids instead of one or two, it would not be such a big deal. But one point for using the phrase "changing racial composition" at all. Many people are unwilling to do that, and are forced to say "demographics" instead.
