Despite the slowest decade of population growth since the Great Depression, the USA remains the world’s fastest-growing industrialized nation and the globe’s third-most populous country at a time when some are actually shrinking.
The United States reached 308.7 million in 2010, up 9.7% since 2000 — a slight slowdown that many experts says was caused by the recession and less immigration.
Even so, U.S. growth is the envy of most developed nations. Trailing only China and India, the nation is expected to grow at least through the next generation because it is one of the few industrialized countries that has a fertility rate close to replacement level. The rate of births needed for a generation to replace itself is an average 2.1 per woman. The USA’s is at 2.06.
Full Story: U.S. population growth slowed, still envied – USATODAY.com