World Population Will Be 8.09 Billion on New Year’s Day after a 71 Million Increase in 2024

 The 2025 New Year's Eve numerals are displayed in Times Square, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in New York. (AP)
The 2025 New Year's Eve numerals are displayed in Times Square, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in New York. (AP)
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World Population Will Be 8.09 Billion on New Year’s Day after a 71 Million Increase in 2024

 The 2025 New Year's Eve numerals are displayed in Times Square, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in New York. (AP)
The 2025 New Year's Eve numerals are displayed in Times Square, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in New York. (AP)

The world population increased by more than 71 million people in 2024 and will be 8.09 billion people on New Year's Day, according to US Census Bureau estimates released Monday.

The 0.9% increase in 2024 was a slight slowdown from 2023, when the world population grew by 75 million people. In January 2025, 4.2 births and 2.0 deaths were expected worldwide every second, according to the estimates.

The United States grew by 2.6 million people in 2024, and the US population on New Year's Day will be 341 million people, according to the Census Bureau.

The United States was expected to have one birth every 9 seconds and one death every 9.4 seconds in January 2025. International migration was expected to add one person to the US population every 23.2 seconds. The combination of births, deaths and net international migration will increase the US population by one person every 21.2 seconds, the Census Bureau said.

So far in the 2020s, the US population has grown by almost 9.7 million people, a 2.9% growth rate. In the 2010s, the US grew by 7.4%, which was the lowest rate since the 1930s.



SpaceX's Starship to Deploy Mock Satellites in Next Test

SpaceX logo and Elon Musk photo are seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
SpaceX logo and Elon Musk photo are seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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SpaceX's Starship to Deploy Mock Satellites in Next Test

SpaceX logo and Elon Musk photo are seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
SpaceX logo and Elon Musk photo are seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Elon Musk's SpaceX said upcoming Starship test flight would include the rocket's first attempt to deploy payloads in space by releasing 10 model Starlink satellites, a key demonstration for Starship's potential in the satellite launch market.

"While in space, Starship will deploy 10 Starlink simulators, similar in size and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites as the first exercise of a satellite deploy mission," SpaceX said in a blog post on its website, Reuters reported.

The Starship flight from SpaceX's sprawling Boca Chica, Texas facilities, tentatively planned for later this month, will mark the seventh demonstration in a test-to-failure style of rocket development where the company tests new upgrades with each flight.

In October, Starship's "Super Heavy" first stage booster returned to its launch pad's giant mechanical arms for the first time, a milestone for its fully reusable design.

The rocket's sixth test flight in November, attended by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, achieved similar mission objectives - besides the landing of Super Heavy, which was forced to target a water landing on the Gulf of Mexico because of a launchpad problem.

Starship is the centerpiece of SpaceX's future satellite launch business - an area it currently dominates with its partially reusable Falcon 9 - as well as Musk's dreams to colonize Mars.

The rocket's power, stronger than the Saturn V rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon in the last century, is key for launching huge batches of satellites into low-Earth orbit and is expected to rapidly expand the company's Starlink satellite internet network.

SpaceX is under contract with NASA to land U.S. astronauts on the moon later this decade using Starship.

Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, has become a close ally of Trump who has made getting to Mars a more prominent goal for the incoming administration.