Population Statistics State population estimates

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One percent doesn't sound like much, but when it represents this year's increase in the U.S. population, the actual number is more than 2.5 million people. As a result, the Census Bureau estimates that the population of the United States as of January 1 will be 271,645,214.

Next year's growth is expected to be about 2.3 million, less than this year's because of an anticipated increase in deaths as the population grows and ages, the bureau said Tuesday.

The estimated population as of New Year's Day 1999 represents about a 9.2 percent increase over the 1990 census total of 248,765,170.

World population is nearing 6 billion, a figure the Census Bureau estimates will arrive during 1999.