Growth Slows, but World’s Population Moves Past 8 Billion to Start 2024

Growth Slows, but World’s Population Moves Past 8 Billion to Start 2024

增长放缓，但2024年初，全球人口已超过80亿

【听力音频】

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　　By Dan Friedell

　　02 January 2024

　　A U.S. government agency says the world's population grew by about 75 million people in 2023.

　　The U.S. Census Bureau notes the worldwide growth rate in the past year was just under 1 percent. The agency also said there will be 4.3 births and two deaths around the world every second in 2024.

　　The United States' growth rate is about half that of the world overall. On January 1, 2024, the U.S. had a population of 335.8 million, the Census Bureau said.

　　The numbers look large. But growth rates around the world have been slowing. The United Nations notes the world population will reach 9 billion in about 15 years. That is three years longer than it took to move from 7 billion to 8 billion. The world population reached 8 billion people in November 2022.

　　If the current rate continues, the 2020s are likely to be the slowest growing decade in American history, the Census Bureau said.

　　William Frey is a population expert at the Brookings Institution, a research group based in Washington, D.C. He said the growth rate in the U.S. from 2020 to 2030 will be under 4 percent. The slowest-growing decade recorded in the U.S. took place in the 1930s, after the long economic depression. The growth rate for that decade was 7.3 percent.

　　Frey said the predicted growth rate could "tick up" in the next few years. But he said it is not likely to be higher than 7.3 percent.

　　Immigration is the reason why the U.S. will not suffer a population loss in 2024. There should be one birth every nine seconds and one death every 9.5 seconds. But there will likely be two new American immigrants every minute in 2024. As a result, every 24.2 seconds, the U.S. population will increase by one person.

　　The two most populous countries are India and China. India moved ahead of China at some point in 2023. The two countries both have more than 1.4 billion people. By 2050, China's population is expected to decrease by 2.7 percent.

　　I'm Dan Friedell.

　　Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English based on a report by the Associated Press.

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　　Dan Friedell

　　2024年1月2日

　　美国政府机构表示，2023年全球人口增长了大约7500万人。

　　美国人口普查局指出，过去一年全球的增长率略低于1%。该机构还表示，2024年全球每秒将有4.3个新生儿出生，同时有两人死亡。

　　美国的增长率大约是全球总体的一半。人口普查局表示，2024年1月1日，美国的人口为3.358亿。

　　这些数字看起来很大。但全球的增长率一直在放缓。联合国指出，全球人口将在大约15年后达到90亿。这比从70亿增长到80亿所花费的时间多了三年。全球人口在2022年11月达到80亿。

　　如果当前的增长率继续，2020年代可能会是美国历史上增长最慢的十年，人口普查局表示。

　　威廉·弗雷是华盛顿特区的一家研究机构布鲁金斯学会的人口专家。他说，从2020年到2030年，美国的增长率将低于4%。美国记录的增长最慢的十年发生在1930年代，那是经济大萧条后的时期。那个十年的增长率是7.3%。

　　弗雷说，预计的增长率在未来几年可能会"上升"。但他说，它不太可能高于7.3%。

　　移民是美国在2024年不会出现人口减少的原因。预计每9秒钟会有一个新生儿出生，每9.5秒钟会有一个人死亡。但是，2024年每分钟可能会有两个新的美国移民。因此，每24.2秒，美国的人口将增加一个人。

　　人口最多的两个国家是印度和中国。印度在2023年的某个时候超过了中国。这两个国家的人口都超过了14亿。到2050年，中国的人口预计将减少2.7%。

　　我是Dan Friedell。

　　Dan Friedell根据美联社的报道为学英语改编了这个故事。

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　　故事中的词汇

　　depression ­–n.一个国家的经济收缩而非增长的长时间期间

　　tick up (expression) - v. 小幅度增长