The 300 million mark
 (Frederic J. Brown/ AFP/ Getty Images) |
Within days, a historic event will occur in the United States: The nation's population will surpass the mark of 300 million people. Only China and India have larger populations. How long did it take China to add the latest 300 million people to its population?
A. 52 years B. 39 years C. 23 years D. 19 years
A. 52 years is not correct.
The US population passed the 100 million mark in 1915 during World War I. It took 52 more years for the population to grow from 100 million to 200 million.
While no exact date exists for the point in time when the Chinese population passed the 300 million mark, it is estimated to have occurred between 1700 and 1820 or as much as three centuries ago.
B. 39 years is not correct.
Thirty-nine is the number of years it took the US population to grow from the 200 million mark to 300 million. According to the US Census Bureau, the 200-millionth American was born Nov. 20, 1967.
Western Europe's population is estimated to have reached the 300 million mark in 1948, just after World War II.
Africa did so around 1963, while Latin America passed the mark as recently as 1973.
C. 23 years is correct.
It took China 23 years to grow from the level of 1 billion people a milestone it passed in 1982 to 1.3 billion people. Its current population is about 1.325 billion.
But China is not the only country to experience such rapid population growth. Since 1969, the world population has expanded by 300 million more people every four years.
D. 19 years is not correct.
India's population passed the 300 million mark in 1909 nearly a century ago. Since that time, its population grew rapidly to its current level of 1.1 billion.
In fact, India's population has grown by 300 million people in the two decades since 1987. And according to the UN Population Division, India is expected to add another 300 million people by 2030.
The Globalist Quiz is produced by The Globalist, a Washington- based research organization that promotes awareness of world affairs. © 2006 The Globalist, www.theglobalist.com. 
