population news stories on Newser

Half of Detroit's Streetlights May Go Dark

Matt Cantor — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:31:08 CDT

Detroit's population has shrunk 60% since 1950, and officials say it's time to condense the city. They're taking a simple approach: Light the areas where they want folks to live. Mayor Dave Bing wants to cut the number of streetlights nearly in half, from 88,000 to 46,000, reports...

World's 7 Billionth Person Arrives by Halloween

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 08:15:05 CDT

By the time you’re out trick-or-treating on Halloween, the planet will have marked an important milestone: As predicted, the world’s 7 billionth person will arrive this year , by Oct. 31, according to the UN Population Fund. It predicts that we’ll hit 8 billion just 14 more years after that—a...

World Population Will Break 10B by 2100

Matt Cantor — Tue, 03 May 2011 15:33:05 CDT

The world’s population will hit 9.3 billion by 2050 and 10.1 billion by 2100, UN experts say. It’s set to reach 7 billion by the end of this year. The UN uses the figures, which depend on fertility expectations, to set up programs to address issues from maternal...

Detroit's Population in Freefall

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:20:54 CDT

Detroit is not just a city in decline, it's a city in free-fall: Its population dropped 25% over the past 10 years, census data show, losing a staggering 237,500 people. The number of people in the city last year, 713,777, is the lowest since 1910; Detroit's population loss...

China, India Overrun by ... Guys

Matt Cantor — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 08:04:05 CDT

Thanks to sex selection, areas of China and India are set to see a 10%-20% excess of males over the next two decades, a study finds. The nations' preference for boys, coupled with the increasing use of ultrasound equipment over the past 20 years, is tipping the scales, reports the...

1 in 4 US Counties 'Dying'

Rob Quinn — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 05:50:03 CST

Almost a quarter of America's 3,142 counties are slowly dying, according to the US Census Bureau. Some 760 counties are now recording more deaths than births, census figures show, and what demographers call "natural decrease" is accelerating as the downturn pushes birth rates down and forces young people to...

Chicago's Population Dips Below 1920 Level

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:37:30 CST

Chicago's population fell 6.9% during the decade that ended in 2010, leaving it with fewer people than lived there in 1920. The US Census Bureau reports a population of 2,695,598 people, just under the 2.7 million that were reported nearly a century ago, the Wall Street...

Muslim Population Set to Surge

Kevin Spak — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 07:10:00 CST

The global Muslim population will grow at twice the rate of non-Muslims over the next 20 years, according to a new analysis of demographic trends from the Pew Research Center and the John Templeton Foundation. In the US, the Muslim population is on pace to more than double, from 2....

Coming in 2011: The World's 7 Billionth Person

Evann Gastaldo — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 07:43:47 CST

Things to look forward to in 2011: all-natural Frito-Lay chips , a bunch of truly unnecessary movie sequels , and … the world’s 7 billionth living person. That lucky baby will arrive sometime next year, according to the UN Population Reference Bureau, writes Bryan Walsh for Time . The world’s 6 billionth living...