Advertisement

World population up 75 million this year, topping 8 billion by Jan. 1

People look up at Christmas lights while strolling around downtown Lisbon's Chiado neighborhood on Dec. 23, 2023.
People look up at Christmas lights while strolling around downtown Lisbon’s Chiado neighborhood last week.
(Armando Franca / Associated Press)
Share via

The world population grew by 75 million people over the last year and on New Year’s Day it will stand at more than 8 billion people, according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday.

The worldwide growth rate in the last year was just under 1%. At the start of 2024, 4.3 births and two deaths are expected worldwide every second, according to the Census Bureau figures.

The growth rate for the United States in the last year was 0.53%, about half the worldwide figure. The U.S. added 1.7 million people and will have a population on New Year’s Day of 335.8 million people.

Advertisement

Belarus’ leader attended a meeting with children from Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine, defying outrage over involvement in Moscow’s deportation of them.

Dec. 28, 2023

If the current pace continues through the end of the decade, the 2020s could be the slowest-growing decade in U.S. history, yielding a growth rate of less than 4% over the 10-year-period from 2020 to 2030, said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution.

The current slowest-growing decade was in the aftermath of the Great Depression in the 1930s, when the growth rate was 7.3%.

“Of course growth may tick up a bit as we leave the pandemic years. But it would still be difficult to get to 7.3%,” Frey said.

Advertisement

At the start of 2024, the United States is expected to experience one birth every nine seconds and one death every 9.5 seconds. However, immigration should keep the population from dropping. Net international migration is expected to add one person to the U.S. population every 28.3 seconds. This combination of births, deaths and net international migration should increase the U.S. population by one person every 24.2 seconds.

Advertisement