Probably A Boy

In my October 17 post, I mentioned how the population of the United States had reached the 300 million mark. When I spoke with my father this week, he asked if I had figured out who that 300 millionth person was. He was joking, of course, since the 300 million figure itself is based on averages rather than actual numbers. As you recall from my post, Carl Haub, a senior demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, suggests that the 300 millionth person was most likely a non-Hispanic, European-American (i.e., "white") child. My father suggested that the child was probably a boy, since the number of boys born in the US is slightly larger than the number of girls. But again, this is all based on averages. Nevertheless, that gives you at least an idea of who that 300 millionth American might be.