STATISTICS: On the Land

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By comparison with most of the world's developed nations, the U.S. is sparsely populated. Reported the Bureau of the Census last week: the U.S. population of about 172 million covers the 3,000,000 sq. mi. of land at the factor of 57 people per sq. mi. Libya (estimated 1955 pop. 1,105,000), with about two people for each of 679,360 sq. mi., is at the bottom of the list, and the U.S.S.R., biggest in land area (8,600,000 sq. mi.), has an estimated (1956) population of 200,200,000, or 23 people per sq. mi. Countries with densest populations per sq. mi. (as of 1955): The Netherlands, 858; Belgium, 753; United Kingdom, 544.