An In-Depth View of America by the Numbers

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Our families are getting smaller--with one vital exception. Compared with those of Europe and Japan, the U.S. population is younger and more colorful because of the continued arrival of immigrants and their higher-than-average birthrates. Of the 100 million Americans who will join us in the next 37 years, half will be immigrants or their children. In the next few decades, 97% of the world's population growth will occur in the developing world; the U.S. is the largest developed country in the world that is still growing at a healthy clip. That matters, strategically, economically and politically, as developed countries try to maintain their services, their militaries, their economic strength. If there is already a gap in energy and optimism between the U.S. and Europe, it looks likely only to widen in the next generation.

America has always been a nation of pilgrims--people who come here and those born here who like to move around. But if you are feeling restless and want to explore the country, don't go by the names or you'll get lost. Loving County, Texas, needs to sound so friendly because it is the least populated county in the lower 48. New Jersey is the Garden State, but it's more like a planter, since it's the most densely populated in the country. Sundance, Wyo., sounds like a merry place, but it was named for a Lakota Indian festival in which young warriors cut off pieces of their flesh and then danced in a test of strength. You wonder who moves to Helltown, Devil's Den, Weedpatch (all in California); Boring, Ore.; Elephant Butte, N.M.; West Thumb, Wyo.; Trickem, Ala.; Possum Trot, Ky.; or Lonelyville, N.Y. But they are all probably close to someone's idea of paradise.