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- WASHINGTON,
Dec 13 (AFP)
- Americans are now breathing air that is 10 times dirtier
than it was
in 1900 but the death rate since then has been halved, the
US Census Bureau
reported Monday.
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- As the US population expanded
from 76 million 100 years
ago to 270 million, the number of
gasoline-powered vehicles rose from 8,000
to 208 million in
1997.
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- Emissions of nitrogen dioxide soared from 2.6 million
tonnes to
23.6 million tonnes.
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- But in the last century, according to the Census Bureau,
life expectancy for men went from 46 to 74 and for women from 48 to 79.
The death rate fell from 17.2 per 1,000 to 8.6 in 1997.
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- These and other
changes were recorded in a statistical
abstract published by the bureau
on Monday.
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- "To date, the 20th century has to be the most dynamic
in
our history, and these statistics paint a picture of rapid and massive
change," said Census Bureau director Kenneth Prewitt.
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- Elsewhere, the the
bureau found:
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- -- In 1900, 60 percent of the population lived in rural
areas.
In 1990, only 25 percent lived in the countryside.
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- -- The number of foreign-born
residents increased from
10.3 million in 1900 to 25.8 million in
1997.
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- --
In 1900, 11.0 percent of all 14-to-17-year-olds were
in secondary
education classes, compared with 93 percent in 1997.
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- -- In 1900, some 28,700 people
earned bachelor degrees
from US colleges and universities. That figure
had risen to 1.2 million
in 1997.
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- -- The first powered airplane
flight carried two passengers
in 1903, when Orville and Wilbur Wright
flew 120 feet in 12 seconds. In
1998 US commercial airliners carried
614 million passengers.
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- -- There were 36 highway fatalities in 1900 and 41,967
in 1997.
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- -- In 1920, the first time such data was available, 35
percent
of US homes had telephone service, compared to 94 percent in 1997.
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- -- The US government
took in 567 million dollars in receipts
in 1990 and 1.7 trillion
dollars in 1999.
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- -- National defense spending came to 300 million dollars
in
1900 and 307 billion in 1998.
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- -- With one dollar (in terms of 1982-1984 dollars) in
1913, a US consumer could buy 10.08 dollars' worth of goods compared with
60 cents' worth in 1998.
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- -- In 1900, there were 5.7 million farms covering 841
million acres (340 million hectares). In 1998 there were 2.2 million farms
in the United States covering 954 million acres (386 million
hectares).
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