Jonathan V. Last, senior writer at The Weekly Standard and the author of What to Expect When No One's Expecting: America's Coming Demographic Disaster, says Americans face a looming threat of population shrinkage.

 

Lars Olov Bygren, a professor at Umeå University in Sweden, grew up in a remote village north of the Arctic Circle. It wasn't an easy place to be a kid, and he has cold, hard data to back him up: book after book of facts and figures on ...

The National Archives published the full records of the 1940 census online today. It's the first United States census to be fully digitalized, and contains details, including names, addresses and income levels, of more than 132 million people. Connie Potter, archivist and senior genealogy specialist at the National Archives, says this trove of information brings out the people behind census statistics.

This past Halloween, the world's population hit seven billion, according to the United Nations. So what do we know about our planet's seven billionth child? And what world will he or she grow up in? A few days before this landmark, Suzanne Petroni the vice president for global health at the Public Health Institute, came on The Takeaway to discuss these questions — and she had some surprising predictions on who the Earth's seven billionth person would be.

The markets responded positively to the news last week of a euro zone deal to try and turn around their two-year financial crisis. Marcus Mabry, editor-at-large of the International Herald Tribune, which is the international edition of The New York Times, tells us how he expects the markets to continue to go this week and to be on the lookout at Italy, which could be the next euro zone country to be in financial trouble. Charlie Herman, business and economics editor for WNYC and The Takeaway, looks at the upcoming G20 Summit in France this week, and if they can come up with a framework to deal with Europe's economic troubles.

Today the world's population reached seven billion. Duncan Kennedy, reporting for the BBC, spent the first few hours with that seven billionth baby — or one of the newborns that could lay claim to the title — Alice, in Australia. He spoke with her new parents about the advent of a new life in their world, and about what it's like to be the parents of a child on a 7 billion person planet. 

The world's population is set to reach seven billion on Monday, October 31, 2011. And all this week, The Takeaway is talking about what this monumental number means for people, resources and the planet. Statistics in the U.S. show that the average American woman has 2.1 children. With these numbers the population balance should looks good for the U.S. But a new book shows that this is not the case.

According to the United Nations, the world's population is set to hit seven billion on October 31st. And all this week The Takeaway is talking about what this monumental number means. Some Western countries are seeing a decline in the number of babies born leaving many governments worried about the future age and strength of their populations. Some rich nations like Germany, are offering financial and practical incentives to encourage women to have children.

The world’s population is set to reach seven billion on Monday, October 31, 2011. The Takeaway is talking about what this monumental number means for people, resources and the planet. One of the biggest questions is who exactly the seven billionth person will be and what his or her life will be like. Suzanne Petroni is vice president for global health at the Public Health Institute, and she has some surprising predictions on who this person might be.

The world's population is expected to reach seven billion on Monday, October 31, 2011. All this week The Takeaway looks at population growth and what it means for natural resources and the planet. High population growth has long concerned politicians and policymakers. The Earth's population first reached 1 billion in 1805, around the midpoint of the industrial revolution. From 1805 it took 123 years for the world's population to reach 2 billion. By contrast, it is estimated that it will only take 15 years until there are 8 million humans living on Earth.

The United Nations says that by the end of October, the world's population will surpass seven billion. The world population is now growing by roughly 80 million people per year. The tiny African nation of Zambia is among many nations around the world experiencing a population boom. Thirteen million people now live in Zambia, compared to just 3 million in 1964 — and the U.N. expects that number to triple by 2050, with perhaps over 100 million people living there by the end of the century. Fergus Walsh, correspondent for the BBC, reports on Zambia's population boom.

New data from the 2010 Census has revealed surprising facts about America’s children. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of Hispanic and Asian children in the U.S. grew by 5.5 million, while the population of white children declined by 4.3 million. How have our nation's schools handled these population shifts — particularly as states slash their education budgets? How will these demographic changes affect the U.S. in the future?

A village of 109 people and less than three miles across has been declared the country’s mean center of population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The village is Plato, Missouri, and its location is an indicator that the population center has gradually drifted southwest. We talk with the mayor of the village, Bob Biram, 66, who has been living in Plato his whole life. He says "there's a little bit of everything" in Plato.

-- Sam Roberts of the New York Times, on the Brian Lehrer Show

According to the UK's Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the world is hurtling towards population overload, putting billions of people at risk from hunger and thirst. And the global population is expected to keep growing with a predicted rise of 2.5 billion people by the end of the century. How will the planet and its citizens cope with this explosion?

A new demographic study from the University of New Hampshire finds that the demographic makeup of the U.S. is changing most rapidly among babies and young children, with 2010 on track to see more babies of color born than white babies. The study cites immigration, high fertility rates among recent immigrant communities (and comparatively lower fertility rates among non-Hispanic whites) and details the counties that have already become so-called "majority-minority" areas.

Colorado's population has just rate hit the five million mark.  It is in the top five fastest growing states in the nation and its rate of growth has remained steady, even during the recession.  What is attracting new residents to the Rocky Mountain State and are all of those new residents a good thing for a state is dealing with a budget crisis?  Denver Post staff writer Burt Hubbard says there are certainly some growing pains that come with new residents moving in.  Rajeev Vibhakar and Chip Raches explain what attracted them to move to Denver.

In Brooklyn, there's cachet being in 718. In Manhattan, 212 means you're olde skool New York. Soon, New Yorkers will have even more area codes to contend with, because we're running out of phone numbers. The State Public Service Commission says by 2011, the city won't have ...

Okay, okay, we heard you. You, our listeners, smartly pointed out that with all the energy efficient appliances in the world (and thousands of pounds of algae) future energy consumption will continue increasing because population is increasing. The Power Trip was shaking it's head — how could we forget to talk about this? Today, we'd like you to meet David Biello, an associate editor at Scientific American online who joins The Takeaway to talk to about population, energy, and why when one goes up, it's still possible for the other to come down. (Come on, you're as surprised as we are.)

China's family planning commission has released a survey saying that 70% of Chinese women wish they could have two babies or more partially because they worry that an only child is likely to become lonely or spoiled. The commission just announced the survey, but there is a twist, it was conducted in 2006, but is only being released now. For more on the survey and what it might mean for China's one-child policy, we're joined by Quentin Sommerville, the BBC's Beijing Correspondent.