Historical chart and dataset showing total population for the United States by year from 1950 to 2025.

In 2024, the United States had a resident population of around 340 million inhabitants. See figures for the total population by continent here.

Historical chart and dataset showing U.S. population growth rate by year from 1961 to 2023.

This data collection contains a stratified 1-percent sample of households, with separate records for each household, each "sample line" respondent, and each person in the household. These records were encoded from microfilm copies of original handwritten enumeration schedules from the 1950 Census of Population. Geographic identification of the location of the sampled households includes Census regions and divisions, states (except Alaska and Hawaii), Standard Metropolitan Areas (SMAs), and State Economic Areas (SEAs). The data collection was constructed from and consists of 20 independently-drawn subsamples stored in 20 discrete physical files. The 1950 Census had both a complete-count and a sample component. Individuals selected for the sample component were asked a set of additional questions. Only households with a sample line person were included in the 1950 Public Use Microdata Sample. The collection also contains records of group quarters members who were also on the Census sample line. Each household record contains variables describing the location and composition of the household. The sample line records contain variables describing demographic characteristics such as nativity, marital status, number of children, veteran status, education, income, and occupation. The person records contain demographic variables such as nativity, marital status, family membership, and occupation.

In 2023, about 17.7 percent of the American population was 65 years old or over; an increase from the last few years and a figure which is expected to reach 22.8 percent by 2050. This is a significant increase from 1950, when only eight percent of the population was 65 or over. A rapidly aging population In recent years, the aging population of the United States has come into focus as a cause for concern, as the nature of work and retirement is expected to change to keep up. If a population is expected to live longer than the generations before, the economy will have to change as well to fulfill the needs of the citizens. In addition, the birth rate in the U.S. has been falling over the last 20 years, meaning that there are not as many young people to replace the individuals leaving the workforce. The future population It’s not only the American population that is aging -- the global population is, too. By 2025, the median age of the global workforce is expected to be 39.6 years, up from 33.8 years in 1990. Additionally, it is projected that there will be over three million people worldwide aged 100 years and over by 2050.

This data set provides the annual population of counties and states calculated from decennial U.S. censuses conducted from 1890-1950 and the Census Bureau’s annual projections of state population growth. The primary sources are “Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990,” published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1966); “Census U.S. Decennial County Population Data, 1900-1990” published by the NBER (2007); “Historical Statistics of Hawaii,” published by University Press of Hawaii (1977); and “Annual Estimates of the Population for the U.S. and States,” published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census from 1890 to 1950. The digitized, transparent, and consistent nature of this data and provides numerous benefits, including ease of access and greater potential for analysis.

In 2021, children between the ages of zero and 17 years old made up 22.2 percent of the total population in the United States. This is down from a peak in 1960, where children made up 36 percent of the total population in the country.

In 2023, the median age of the population of the United States was 39.2 years. While this may seem quite young, the median age in 1960 was even younger, at 29.5 years. The aging population in the United States means that society is going to have to find a way to adapt to the larger numbers of older people. Everything from Social Security to employment to the age of retirement will have to change if the population is expected to age more while having fewer children. The world is getting older It’s not only the United States that is facing this particular demographic dilemma. In 1950, the global median age was 23.6 years. This number is projected to increase to 41.9 years by the year 2100. This means that not only the U.S., but the rest of the world will also have to find ways to adapt to the aging population.

Unadjusted decennial census data from 1950-2000 and projected figures from 2010-2040: summary table of New York City population numbers and percentage share by Borough, including school-age (5 to 17), 65 and Over, and total population.

This dataset is a digital compilation of the "Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990" publication and the "Census U.S. Decennial County Population Data, 1900-1990" resource. It provides population data for U.S. states and counties from the years 1790 to 1950. In addition to the county and state population figures, the dataset also includes the total U.S. population and state population data, as presented in the "Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990" publication.

United States US: Population Projection: Mid Year data was reported at 420,267,733.000 Person in 2060. This records an increase from the previous number of 418,161,420.000 Person for 2059. United States US: Population Projection: Mid Year data is updated yearly, averaging 295,516,599.000 Person from Jun 1950 (Median) to 2060, with 111 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 420,267,733.000 Person in 2060 and a record low of 151,868,000.000 Person in 1950. United States US: Population Projection: Mid Year data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by US Census Bureau. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.US Census Bureau: Demographic Projection.

Total current population for North America in 2025 is 383,161,331, a 0.55% increase from 2024.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Total population for North America in 2024 was <strong>381,048,005</strong>, a <strong>1.59% increase</strong> from 2023.</li>
<li>Total population for North America in 2023 was <strong>375,077,354</strong>, a <strong>0.75% increase</strong> from 2022.</li>
<li>Total population for North America in 2022 was <strong>372,275,216</strong>, a <strong>0.52% increase</strong> from 2021.</li>
</ul>Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.

Context

The United States Census Bureau’s international dataset provides estimates of country populations since 1950 and projections through 2050. Specifically, the dataset includes midyear population figures broken down by age and gender assignment at birth. Additionally, time-series data is provided for attributes including fertility rates, birth rates, death rates, and migration rates.

Querying BigQuery tables

You can use the BigQuery Python client library to query tables in this dataset in Kernels. Note that methods available in Kernels are limited to querying data. Tables are at bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.

Sample Query 1

What countries have the longest life expectancy? In this query, 2016 census information is retrieved by joining the mortality_life_expectancy and country_names_area tables for countries larger than 25,000 km2. Without the size constraint, Monaco is the top result with an average life expectancy of over 89 years!

standardSQL

SELECT age.country_name, age.life_expectancy, size.country_area FROM ( SELECT country_name, life_expectancy FROM bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.mortality_life_expectancy WHERE year = 2016) age INNER JOIN ( SELECT country_name, country_area FROM bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.country_names_area where country_area > 25000) size ON age.country_name = size.country_name ORDER BY 2 DESC /* Limit removed for Data Studio Visualization */ LIMIT 10

Sample Query 2

Which countries have the largest proportion of their population under 25? Over 40% of the world’s population is under 25 and greater than 50% of the world’s population is under 30! This query retrieves the countries with the largest proportion of young people by joining the age-specific population table with the midyear (total) population table.

standardSQL

SELECT age.country_name, SUM(age.population) AS under_25, pop.midyear_population AS total, ROUND((SUM(age.population) / pop.midyear_population) * 100,2) AS pct_under_25 FROM ( SELECT country_name, population, country_code FROM bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.midyear_population_agespecific WHERE year =2017 AND age < 25) age INNER JOIN ( SELECT midyear_population, country_code FROM bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.midyear_population WHERE year = 2017) pop ON age.country_code = pop.country_code GROUP BY 1, 3 ORDER BY 4 DESC /* Remove limit for visualization*/ LIMIT 10

Sample Query 3

The International Census dataset contains growth information in the form of birth rates, death rates, and migration rates. Net migration is the net number of migrants per 1,000 population, an important component of total population and one that often drives the work of the United Nations Refugee Agency. This query joins the growth rate table with the area table to retrieve 2017 data for countries greater than 500 km2.

SELECT growth.country_name, growth.net_migration, CAST(area.country_area AS INT64) AS country_area FROM ( SELECT country_name, net_migration, country_code FROM bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.birth_death_growth_rates WHERE year = 2017) growth INNER JOIN ( SELECT country_area, country_code FROM bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.country_names_area

Update frequency

Historic (none)

Dataset source

United States Census Bureau

Terms of use: This dataset is publicly available for anyone to use under the following terms provided by the Dataset Source - http://www.data.gov/privacy-policy#data_policy - and is provided "AS IS" without any warranty, express or implied, from Google. Google disclaims all liability for any damages, direct or indirect, resulting from the use of the dataset.

See the GCP Marketplace listing for more details and sample queries: https://console.cloud.google.com/marketplace/details/united-states-census-bureau/international-census-data

This data collection and its 1940 counterpart were assembled through a collaborative effort between the United States Bureau of the Census and the Center for Demography and Ecology of the University of Wisconsin. The 1940 and 1950 Census Public Use Sample Project was supported by The National Science Foundation under Grant SES-7704135. The collections contain a stratified 1-percent sample of households, with separate records for each household, for each \'sample line\' respondent, and for each person in the household. These records were encoded from microfilm copies of original handwritten enumeration schedules from the 1940 and 1950 Censuses of Population. The universe for the sample included all persons and households within the United States. Geographic identification of the location of the sampled households includes Census regions and divisions, States (except Alaska and Hawaii), Standard Metropolitan Areas (SMA\'s), and State Economic Areas (SEA\'s). The SMA\'s and SEA\'s are comparable for both the 1940 and 1950 Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS). The data collections were constructed from and consist of 20 independently-drawn subsamples stored in 20 discrete physical files. Each of the 20 subsamples contains three record types (household, \'sample line\', and person). Both collections had both a complete-count and a sample component. Individuals selected for the sample component were asked a set of additional questions. Only households with a \'sample line\' person were included in the public use microdata sample. The collections also contain records of group quarters members who were also on the Census \'sample line\'. For the 1940 and 1950 collections, each household record contains variables describing the location and composition of the household. The \'sample line\' records for 1950 contain variables describing demographic characteristics such as nativity, marital status, number of children, veteran status, education, income, and occupation. The person records for 1950 contain such demographic variables as nativity, marital status, family membership, and occupation. Accompanying the data collections are code books which include an abstract, descriptions of sample design, processing procedures and file structure, a data dictionary (record layout), category code lists, and a glossary. The data collections are arranged by subsample with each subsample stored as a separate physical file of information. The 20 subsamples were selected randomly. Within each of the 20 subsamples, records are sequenced by State. Extracting all of the records for one State entails reading through all of the 20 physical files and selecting that State\'s records from each of the 20 subsamples. Record types are ordered within household (household characteristics first, \'sample line\' next, and person records last). The 1950 collection consists of a total of 2,844,458 data records: 461,130 household records, 461,130 \'sample line\' records, and 1,922,198 person records. Each record type has a logical record length of 133.;

In the past four centuries, the population of the United States has grown from a recorded 350 people around the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1610, to an estimated 331 million people in 2020. The pre-colonization populations of the indigenous peoples of the Americas have proven difficult for historians to estimate, as their numbers decreased rapidly following the introduction of European diseases (namely smallpox, plague and influenza). Native Americans were also omitted from most censuses conducted before the twentieth century, therefore the actual population of what we now know as the United States would have been much higher than the official census data from before 1800, but it is unclear by how much. Population growth in the colonies throughout the eighteenth century has primarily been attributed to migration from the British Isles and the Transatlantic slave trade; however it is also difficult to assert the ethnic-makeup of the population in these years as accurate migration records were not kept until after the 1820s, at which point the importation of slaves had also been illegalized. Nineteenth century In the year 1800, it is estimated that the population across the present-day United States was around six million people, with the population in the 16 admitted states numbering at 5.3 million. Migration to the United States began to happen on a large scale in the mid-nineteenth century, with the first major waves coming from Ireland, Britain and Germany. In some aspects, this wave of mass migration balanced out the demographic impacts of the American Civil War, which was the deadliest war in U.S. history with approximately 620 thousand fatalities between 1861 and 1865. The civil war also resulted in the emancipation of around four million slaves across the south; many of whose ancestors would take part in the Great Northern Migration in the early 1900s, which saw around six million black Americans migrate away from the south in one of the largest demographic shifts in U.S. history. By the end of the nineteenth century, improvements in transport technology and increasing economic opportunities saw migration to the United States increase further, particularly from southern and Eastern Europe, and in the first decade of the 1900s the number of migrants to the U.S. exceeded one million people in some years. Twentieth and twenty-first century The U.S. population has grown steadily throughout the past 120 years, reaching one hundred million in the 1910s, two hundred million in the 1960s, and three hundred million in 2007. In the past century, the U.S. established itself as a global superpower, with the world's largest economy (by nominal GDP) and most powerful military. Involvement in foreign wars has resulted in over 620,000 further U.S. fatalities since the Civil War, and migration fell drastically during the World Wars and Great Depression; however the population continuously grew in these years as the total fertility rate remained above two births per woman, and life expectancy increased (except during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918).

Since the Second World War, Latin America has replaced Europe as the most common point of origin for migrants, with Hispanic populations growing rapidly across the south and border states. Because of this, the proportion of non-Hispanic whites, which has been the most dominant ethnicity in the U.S. since records began, has dropped more rapidly in recent decades. Ethnic minorities also have a much higher birth rate than non-Hispanic whites, further contributing to this decline, and the share of non-Hispanic whites is expected to fall below fifty percent of the U.S. population by the mid-2000s. In 2020, the United States has the third-largest population in the world (after China and India), and the population is expected to reach four hundred million in the 2050s.

Historical chart and dataset showing total population for Central America by year from 1950 to 2025.

Midyear population estimates and projections for all countries and areas of the world with a population of 5,000 or more // Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, International Programs Center// Note: Total population available from 1950 to 2100 for 227 countries and areas. Other demographic variables available from base year to 2100. Base year varies by country and therefore data are not available for all years for all countries. For the United States, total population available from 1950-2060, and other demographic variables available from 1980-2060. See methodology at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/international-programs/about/idb.html

This data collection includes estimates of net migration by age, race, and sex for United States counties for the periods 1950-1960 and 1960-1970. These estimates were developed primarily by the census-survival ratios forward method, and adjusted to be consistent with vital statistics by county. The files contain geographical identifiers such as state, division, region, county name and GEO code. Data on births according to sex and race are presented as well as total population by age groups, sex and race (white vs. nonwhite). Net migration estimates and net migration rates for each category are also included.

The 1950 Census population schedules were created by the Bureau of the Census in an attempt to enumerate every person living in the United States on April 1, 1950, although some persons were missed. The 1950 census population schedules were digitized by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and released publicly on April 1, 2022. The 1950 Census enumeration district maps contain maps of counties, cities, and other minor civil divisions that show enumeration districts, census tracts, and related boundaries and numbers used for each census. The coverage is nation wide and includes territorial areas. The 1950 Census enumeration district descriptions contain written descriptions of census districts, subdivisions, and enumeration districts.

Historical chart and dataset showing U.S. birth rate by year from 1950 to 2025.