How fast is the population of the world growing? How about the U.S. and Russia? You can find the answer with Google. Here is some interesting global economic data courtesy of Google.
It shows a map of the world with the population growth rate in green. Darker green means faster population growth rate. The fastest growth rates are in Africa, the middle east and central Asia. Those are also some of the poorest regions of the world.
Population growth (annual %) - 2008
Source: World Bank Data - Annual Population Growth Rate
Just follow this link to see a plot of population growth rate since 1960 for any country.
Population growth is a fundamental statistic of the macro economy. Every year, some people die and new babies are born. Also new people arrive as immigrants, and some people emmigrate which means the pack up and leave the country. Population growth measures the net change in population from birth, deaths, immigration and emmigration.
Population growth is one of the two principle drivers of GDP growth. (The other driver of GDP growth is productivity growth.) The more people that live in a country, the greater will be the demand for goods and services. More people also means a larger workforce, which has a potential for higher production.
If you click on the chart, the U.S. population seems to grow at a steady 1% per year. Along with 2% productivity growth it allows the U.S. economy to grow about 3% each year in real product.
Russia’s population growth has been slightly negative since the early 1990s. This does not bode well for Russia’s future.
Many undeveloped countries in the world are growing at rates of 3% or more per year. To maintain their standard of living, those developing economies must grow to keep up with population growth. To inrease living standards, they must grow faster than their population growth. This can only be accomplished through increases in productivity.
