Many developed countries are not growing. The U.S. is getting bigger and more colorful but is still uncrowded. According to the U.S. Census Bureau:
* The U.S. is the third most populous country on earth but still has fewer than 5 percent of the world's people.
* Eighty percent of the U.S. population lives in one of the top five metropolitan areas, which are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Philadelphia.
* For every 1,000 Americans: 568 live in the state where they were born; 455 are employed, 405 are married, 173 speak a language other than English, 159 have no health insurance, 122 are 65 or older, 5 are in the active-duty military, and 1 is in kindergarten.
* In 1970, 4.7 percent of the population was born outside the U.S. In 2000, counting illegal immigrants, 14.6 percent were born outside. That's just under the 1890 figure of 14.8 percent.
* According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, American employees use less vacation time than Europeans. Americans take 3.9 weeks. In Italy, Britain, and Germany, workers take four. In France, it's five weeks.
* The five occupations scheduled to grow the most by 2014 are postsecondary teachers, home health aides, computer-software engineers, medical assistants, and preschool teachers.
* Americans have gained four to eight hours of free time per week since 1965. Time spent exercising has doubled. Men watch TV three hours 28 minutes a day, women for two hours, 41 minutes.
* The Americans Use of Time Project shows a 20 percent drop in hours spent grooming over the past 20 years, possibly because of the easing of business dress codes. Women spend two hours more per week on grooming than men do.
* At 10 p.m., 12 percent of us are doing household chores or working late; 47 percent are enjoying their free time, and everyone else has gone to bed.
* Some 35 percent of adult Americans are registered voters and always vote; 20 percent vote sometimes, and 45 percent never vote.