On this New Year’s Eve, some 322 million Americans of all ages and backgrounds are ready to greet the year 2015. A hundred years ago, the U.S. population was just over 100 million. Fifty years ago, it was around 194 million. The 2010 Census counted just under 309 million people. To show how the nation is growing, New Year’s Day will be the birthday of about 10,800 newborns, the first of whom will be reported in the media. These new arrivals will be joined by others — the 1,950 or so international migrants adding to our net population every day. And there’s plenty to draw from — the population of the wider world outside the U.S. is reckoned around 7.3 billion people. The men and women of the U.S. Census Bureau wish you a happy, safe, and prosperous New Year.