Thursday, March 31, 2011

Indian Census Count Totals 1.21 billion

The provisional results of the 2011 Census of India have just been released, and they show that the population has now reached 1.21 billion. BBC News notes that:
More people now live in India than in the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Bangladesh combined.
India launched the 2011 census last year. The exercise costs in the region of 22bn rupees ($490m; £300m). Some 2.7 million officials visited households in about 7,000 towns and 600,000 villages, classifying the population according to gender, religion, education and occupation.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Korean Immigrants Successful in the US

The US Census figures have emphasized the recent growth of the Latino population, while also noting that the Asian population has been increasing almost as quickly, although there are still considerably fewer Asians than Hispanics in the US. BBC News has a story about the rather amazing success of the Korean immigrant population, fueled by classic patterns of chain migration, a strong sense of community, and hard work.

Like other immigrants before them, Koreans supported each other, often pooling money to provide no interest loans to help the newest immigrants start their businesses.
John Kim, of the Korean Produce Association in New York, whose parents immigrated and opened a sweet shop when he was a boy, recounts a common adage describing how important it was for new immigrants to know someone before arriving in a new country.
"As a new immigrant, the saying goes, 'Whoever picks you up form the airport, whatever business they are in is what you will go into'."
Like other immigrants before them, Koreans supported each other, often pooling money to provide no interest loans to help the newest immigrants start their businesses.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Russian Census Results Confirm Population Decline

Results of the 2010 Census of the Russian Federation have just been released and, according to the report from the New York Times, they confirm that the population of Russia is in decline.
A census carried out in October 2010 showed that the population had fallen to 142.9 million, from 145.2 million in 2002, when the previous census was taken, and from 146.3 million in 2001, according to Russia’s Federal Statistics Service. Russia is expected to lose an estimated one million workers every year until 2017.