Happy New Year: Welcome a Growing Population

As you wake up this morning on this first day of a brand new year, you have lots of company. Since last January 1, the population of the United States has grown by about .7 percent.

That .7 percent may not sound like a lot, but the folks at the U.S. Census Bureau say that means that since Jan. 1, 2011 there are an additional 2.25 million people living in the United States. Today the total population of the United States is projected to be 312,780,968.

Births will outpace deaths in Jan. 2012 and the Census Bureau expects there will be a birth happening every 8 seconds versus a death every 12 seconds this month. Taking into account the number of births, deaths and the international migrations to the U.S. and the population grows by one person every 17 seconds.