Today, I am thankful for the all those who stand up to be counted.
We all have something meaningful to contribute to the world. Despite our inherent insecurities and our occasional bouts with a dearth of self-confidence, we are all integral in some way to one or many others individuals in the world. Whether at home, work, or in the community, each of us plays an intricate role that influences the livelihood of another. Indeed, we live in a highly interconnected world. Clearly, this phenomenon has become even more evident to us over the past 6 months as we have witnessed the pandemic impact of the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus within our communities in nearly every country on the globe.
With this in mind, we need to ensure we fully understand population growth. Currently, on this planet, we have 7.7 billion people coexisting on 6 continents (excluding Antarctica). The countries of China and India now account for nearly 2.5 billion, or nearly one third, of the entire world’s population. Thereafter, the United States, with slightly more than 330 million individuals, comes in third, followed by Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, and Nigeria. Notably, 6 of the 7.7 billion people on this Earth live either on the continents of Asia or Africa. The birth rate is greater than the death rate, leading to some modest growth, on the order of 1.05% each year. That annual growth rate is gradually declining, notably down from its peak in 1968 (the year I was born) at 2.09%. This is predominantly because we are starting each year from a larger base.
I thought I’d take a moment to put human population growth into a slightly better perspective for you, through the use of historical data. If you go back to 500 BC, during the time of the Ancient Greek empire, an estimated 5 million people lived on the Earth – half of what currently live in the metropolitan New York area. By the time of 1 AD, somewhere close to 200 million people lived on the planet. Over the next millennium, growth was relatively slow, with only 250 million people inhabiting the Earth by 1,000 AD. Disease and pestilence prior to their advent of the Scientific Revolution probably accounted for this slower rise. Even at the start of the United States of America in 1776, less than 1 billion people lived in the world. Humanity passed the 1 billion mark in 1804, the 2 billion mark in 1927, and the 3 billion mark in 1960. In my own 52 years on this planet, I’ve seen the passage of the 4, 5, 6, and 7 billion mark, and, if I’m fortunate enough to live to 90, I could potentially witness the coming and going of the 8, 9, and 10 billion marks.
Why so much growth? Well, much of this is tied to improvement in basic hygiene, nutrition, and the quality of medicine. Our ability to build massive cities, with large skyscrapers, adds to this growth. It always highlights the potential hazards of pandemics on a more crowded planet - especially in places where social distancing and mask wearing are not routinely followed.
Article One, Section Two of the United States Constitution mandates that population of our nation is counted once every decade. This decennial enumeration assists with allocating members to the House of Representatives. More importantly, the data is employed to distribute more than $400 billion of federal and state funding to improve communities, bolster public health, build schools, and enhance infrastructure. These measures are particularly critical to ensure emergency readiness in the setting of a national or global crisis. In the United States, the census has been taken consistently for the last 23 decades in the year ending with zero. In fact, the first census collected in 1790, just one year after the ratification of the US Constitution, was formally communicated on this day (Aug 2) to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. When told that 3,929,214 individual called themselves Americans, both leaders expressed notable skepticism, indicating that many had not been adequately counted (especially in their home state of Virginia). However, the numbers were accepted as submitted because this is how the census works.
At that time, formal marshals physically went out and visited every home to complete the count. Mail census collection started 50 years ago in 1970. These days, the census is mainly conducted electronically via the Internet, but some local counting is still performed in areas without sufficient technology. The personal data collected today by the US Bureau of the Census is highly confidential, meaning it cannot be shared with any other agency. All this is done to maintain the public trust and ensure the numbers we collect are accurate. In fact, these data are kept under wraps for at least 72 years following the finalization of the census.
With a year ending in zero now among us, it’s time to be counted again. Of course, the process is not perfect, but I still encourage everyone to stand up and allow yourself to be enumerated.
I believe everyone counts, so my advice is simple: Stand up and be counted.
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