If you visit the land of baguettes and fromage, you probably won’t feel overwhelmed by locals unless you’re on the Metro during rush hour. Even if this figure were tripled, the number of people per square mile would still be considerably lower than in developed countries like Singapore, South Korea and even Belgium.Īt one billion people, the US would be about as densely populated as France.

There are currently 93 people per square mile. Tripling it to one billion people would help America retain its economic power.Ī country the size of the US could comfortably accommodate a billion people. So, increasing America’s population would stimulate the economy, generating more wealth for the country. More people need more services, which means more business transactions. But, today, a higher population helps our modern economy thrive. And this was true before the Industrial Revolution. Many people assume that a large population leads to poverty. The key message here is: To retain its economic power, America needs more people. This is set to happen within the next 20 years. And if the Chinese population became just half as wealthy as Americans, China would become the world’s top economy. China has over one billion people the US has just 330 million. But the gap between each country’s GDP is shrinking. Americans are currently four times wealthier than Chinese people. And this helped America to win wars and conquer its enemies.īut the United States’ economic stronghold is being threatened by rising wealth in China. This economic strength meant the US had superior wartime resources, and its soldiers were better equipped, both to fight and to stay healthy. And by 1938, America’s gross domestic product, or GDP, was greater than that of Germany, Japan, and Italy combined. By the time World War I was declared, its per-person income had overtaken the British Empire’s. For over a century, the United States has been the world’s economic kingpin.

Matt yglesias 1 billion