The Washington Post reports that 2016 “had the lowest rate of population growth of any year since the Great Depression.” The US population, it turns out, grew by slightly less than 0.7 percent compared to 2015. There’s some good news and bad news about this. First the bad news: the working-age population is growing even more slowly than that. Here it is for the 21st century:
Our working-age population continues to grow, but only at a rate of about 0.5 percent per year. But here’s the good news: at least we’re not Russia. Their working-age population started declining half a decade ago and is now “growing” at the rate of -0.8 percent per year:
And then there’s Japan. Their working-age population is also declining, but it didn’t even start the 21st century in positive territory. Currently their working-age population is growing at the rate of -1.2 percent per year:
The working-age population in the US isn’t growing very fast, but it’s growing faster than almost any other developed country.
