300m Americans: does it include the 12m illegals?

[Jacobtm]

Recently it was said that the USA passed the 300m mark in population. I'm just curious if this meant 300m  citizens, or if it just meant 300m people within the boarders of the USA, including the 12m or so illegal immigrants this country has.

Thanks,
Jacob

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Recently it was said that the USA passed the 300m mark in population. I'm just curious if this meant 300m  citizens, or if it just meant 300m people within the boarders of the USA, including the 12m or so illegal immigrants this country has.

Thanks,
Jacob

I'm not 100%, but I would assume that yes, 300 million includes illegal immigrants.  The Census Bureau is supposed to count everyone, not just those here legally.

[Tender Branson]

Recently it was said that the USA passed the 300m mark in population. I'm just curious if this meant 300m  citizens, or if it just meant 300m people within the boarders of the USA, including the 12m or so illegal immigrants this country has.

Thanks,
Jacob

About 2010 Census:

What ?

Count

The census is a count of everyone residing in the United States: in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas.

Who ?

Everyone

All residents of the United States must be counted. This includes people of all ages, races, ethnic groups, citizens and non-citizens.

http://www.census.gov/2010census/about_2010_census/

I suppose it was the case in 2000 too.

[jimrtex]

Recently it was said that the USA passed the 300m mark in population. I'm just curious if this meant 300m  citizens, or if it just meant 300m people within the boarders of the USA, including the 12m or so illegal immigrants this country has.

They are intended to be, since the census counts residents.

But the estimates are based on the 2000 Census.  Illegal immigrants may avoid participating in the Census.  They likely move more frequently, so that they were no longer around when followup was done.  In cases where some members of the household are legal and others not, there might be underreporting.  So if a legal resident family has an illegal cousin living with them, he might not show up on the census form.  Even if they weren't illegal, factors such as language and income would tend to have greater underreporting.

Estimates include adjustments to the base for births and deaths, and international migration.  Illegal immigrants might not be counted.

Some states base their population estimates on housing counts and models of persons per household, and tend to be more accurate than the Census Bureau.

The Census Bureau estimate for 2000 which was based on the 1990 Census was about 7 million less than actual population count for 2000.

[minionofmidas]

But the estimates are based on the 2000 Census.  Illegal immigrants may avoid participating in the Census.  They likely move more frequently, so that they were no longer around when followup was done.  In cases where some members of the household are legal and others not, there might be underreporting.  So if a legal resident family has an illegal cousin living with them, he might not show up on the census form. 

Non-participation is risky, and participation is not, so I doubt the effect is large. The 2000 census (unlike the 1990 one) was widely applauded as having done a good job of counting everybody, which explains this:

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[jimrtex]

But the estimates are based on the 2000 Census.  Illegal immigrants may avoid participating in the Census.  They likely move more frequently, so that they were no longer around when followup was done.  In cases where some members of the household are legal and others not, there might be underreporting.  So if a legal resident family has an illegal cousin living with them, he might not show up on the census form. 

Non-participation is risky, and participation is not, so I doubt the effect is large. The 2000 census (unlike the 1990 one) was widely applauded as having done a good job of counting everybody, which explains this:

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What is the risk of not participating?  You get something in the mail, you throw it in the trash.  By the time the Census Bureau follows up in person, you've moved.

The state agency population estimates in Nevada and Arizona are diverging from the Census Bureau estimates for those states.  Why?

[minionofmidas]

That forces you to move, though.

[Alcon]

Coincidental transiency maybe?  Couldn't that account for the difference?

At least here, I always trust state estimates over Census estimates.  I doubt it's much of a different situation elsewhere.

[Cubby]

Coincidental transiency maybe?  Couldn't that account for the difference?

At least here, I always trust state estimates over Census estimates.  I doubt it's much of a different situation elsewhere.

Is there a website that would have state estimates for all 50 states? The only one I've seen is a story on California's state estimate, which was noticably higher than the Census Bureau.

[Tender Branson]

Coincidental transiency maybe?  Couldn't that account for the difference?

At least here, I always trust state estimates over Census estimates.  I doubt it's much of a different situation elsewhere.

Is there a website that would have state estimates for all 50 states? The only one I've seen is a story on California's state estimate, which was noticably higher than the Census Bureau.

Try this:

http://www.census.gov/population/www/coop/contacts.html

[Cubby]

Coincidental transiency maybe?  Couldn't that account for the difference?

At least here, I always trust state estimates over Census estimates.  I doubt it's much of a different situation elsewhere.

Is there a website that would have state estimates for all 50 states? The only one I've seen is a story on California's state estimate, which was noticably higher than the Census Bureau.

Try this:

http://www.census.gov/population/www/coop/contacts.html

Thanks!

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

No. We have 300m citizens and 30 million illegals.

[Tender Branson]

Recently it was said that the USA passed the 300m mark in population. I'm just curious if this meant 300m  citizens, or if it just meant 300m people within the boarders of the USA, including the 12m or so illegal immigrants this country has.

Thanks,
Jacob

I think you can say it like this:

The 2010 census count will show a total US population of about 310 Million people.

Out of these 310 Million counted about 91% (282 Mio.) will be US citizens and 9% (28 Mio.) non-citizens.

(The precentage of non-citizens is steadily increasing, from 3% in 1980 to 5% in 1990 and 7% in 2000)

Experts say that about 60% of the non-citizens are legally in the US - but that´s just a wild guess. So if we assume that 60% of the 28 Mio. non-citizens are "legally" in the country, it leaves about 11 Million counted non-citizens (=40%), which can be considered illegally in the country. But that´s just those who co-operate with the census-officials and there are certainly a lot who don´t.

So, basically you can say that there will be 282 Mio. US-citizens by 2010, 15-20 Mio. "legal" non-citizens and about 5-20 Mio. "Illegals" of which about 50% will show up in the count of 310 Mio. while the rest remains underground during the count ...

http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/sactestimony120605.html