How do you feel that your country is the third most populous country in the world?

33 comments

1. It’s a big place and much more of it is hospitable than the smaller pop big countries like say, Canada, Australia or Russia.

   Of course we have a lot of people.

2. It’s less that I feel like I live in a giant country and more that most other countries seem bizarrely small.

3. I’m more floored by how big a gap is between second and third. Our population would have to triple before we’re in the running for second

4. I mean, I really only like a few of them so the ratio isn’t great.

5. I don’t particularly care one way or the other. It’s not really something worth getting excited about.

6. I don’t feel any way about it but I guess it’s weird when put in perspective. We have a large enough expanse of land that I can be amongst millions of people or nobody.

7. I mean that’s just how it is I guess? It’s a big country.

8. Some weeks ago an Australian commenter was saying in a thread that Americans have a hard time generalizing. The specific conversation was about schools.

   Well…this is why. How do you make any generalizations about 330 million people? Not to mention the tremendous regional variations in culture and geography that we have.

9. I’d be ok with there being less people. Part of the reason I live where I live. WFH and hardly any people around.

10. It’s a strange feeling when you remember most countries, let alone first world democracies, usually don’t get close to a third of our population.

    It’s also weird to think that I live on the shores of the Great Lakes in a part of the country that’s frozen 7 months a year and that tropical south Florida, the Californian desert, and a tropical island in the middle of the pacific are all parts of the same country as me.

11. It’s not bad. USA is around the same size as China, but we have only about 1/4th of China’s population. I see that as an advantage.

12. I’m fine with having a large population. But I would be worried if our population density became really high.

13. The gap is so wide between 2nd and 3rd I don’t ever really think about our large population size

14. Um. Okay?

    I can’t say it comes up in discussions. It’s not something that is a goal.

15. I don’t think about it at all.

    Now that I am thinking about it, my first thought is “Wow, it’s amazing to have that many people as a resource, we can do so many things”.

    That’s it. What do you think about it?

16. I think its important to remember both the size/population of the US but also remember that a very significant chunk of that population are first or second gen immigrants. Even further ensconced in that population number is probably the greatest diversity of religions, political ideologies, races, ethnicities, languages, and cultures in a single country on the planet. I think its important to remember all of that the next time someone decides to post a question on this sub starting with the phrase “Why do all Americans…” or “Is it true all Americans…”.

17. We should be number one! Our superpower is that we can mint real, bona-fide Americans faster than birthrate due to not being an ethno-state and our fantastically sticky cultural assimilation.

18. Honestly other countries just seem really small, not the other way around. Like it’s wild to me that the entire country of Norway has fewer people than LA county, or that almost as many people live in the greater NYC area as they do in Australia.

19. In general, it doesn’t really feel like that many people. Especially when you consider both China and India have more than a billion more people than we do. I honestly can’t imagine having that many people here.

20. It’s a massive country with a lot of habitable land. I’m shocked the population isn’t higher to be honest

21. I don’t really care

22. I don’t really feel anything from it. We have a lot of people but also a lot of land, so we’re not crowded. Germany fits over 80 million people in an area smaller than Montana.

    At least out west, I barely see a fraction of that 330 million

23. I kinda forget that other countries aren’t giant. Like a fish living in water has no frame of reference for living in the air.

24. It’s just my normal. I imagine that some foreigners look at our population like I look at China’s population.

25. Same way I feel about most things I have no control over, and isn’t a problem, it’s just a thing that is.

26. Those cute lil boutique countries where most people are the same ethnicity and their families have been there for centuries and you can go to the other side of the country as a day trip without changing weather and where a lot more things are centrally governed and standardized are kind of wild to me.

27. The US is the size of a continent, in this case Europe. US has 330,000,000 people, Europe has 760,000,000 people.

    The population density of the US is 36 people per square kilometer.

    The population density of Germany is 234 people per square kilometer.

    Edit: I’m not saying Europe is a country. I was comparing the populations between landmasses, where a majority of Redditors are located.

28. Third most populous, and there are still places where you can drive all day and not see another person.

29. I think that it seems to be hard for people in smaller countries to understand the sheer scale of things here. I’ve been berated by people in, for example, NZ about our national politics and how stupid it is that all Americans can’t just always agree on the right thing (i.e., what works in NZ) and implement it immediately.

    My state alone has roughly the same land mass as NZ with wider seasonal climate variation, as well as a population that is twice as large and more ethnically and culturally diverse. There are 49 other states with varying land masses, climates, and population demographics, and all have a say in federal politics and policy.

30. When I first moved to the US, the population was around 200 million. Today, it is over 330 million.

    Yes, it is very noticeable.

31. The US is massive. But what it really demonstrates is how outrageous the sizes of India and China are. These are massive countries the likes of which the world has never seen before, and the idea that one government runs that many people is almost insane to comprehend

32. I think almost everybody, Americans and non-Americans, forgets how large of a population the US has.

    This makes generalizations about the country especially irritating and short-sighted.

    It also makes me more prone to identifying the state I’m from, rather than just saying I’m American.

    I don’t necessarily feel like I identify well with others who are from regions far away from the states where I grew up and where I currently live. The feeling of disconnect is absolutely there for me.

    Additionally, having such a large population makes it much more difficult to appropriately govern. There are just too many variables to account for in large countries to help with the needs/wants of everybody.

33. We like elbow room. Stop overpopulation now. The earth can’t handle what we’ve got.