The United States is a highly urbanized nation with space in abundance, yet large portions of its national territory are emptying out. The counterpart of this pervasive population decline is a highly selective pattern of growth, conferred by a national system of migration flows that has increasingly favored a certain few metropolitan areas. This…

It is proposed in this document that the selectivity of migration, in terms of both people and places become a more imposing influence in urbanization as the role of natural increase as a source of urban growth diminishes. Recent U.S. growth policy proposals have frequently been marked by a simplistic view of how urban growth works, compounded by…

In this retrospective review of demographic aspects of race and the metropolis, presented as a basis from which to speculate about the 1970's, the period of mass migration of blacks out of the rural South is seen as drawing to a close. The U.S. black population is more urban and more metropolitan than the white population. The development of black…

The tables in this report show birthplace and residence in 1956 for the Negro population in the six standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSA's) which contained a central city with 500,000 or more Negro population at the time of the 1970 census. The tables show that Southern-born blacks living in the six metropolitan areas generally are…

Measures black segregation at four geographic levels: state, county, city, and neighborhood, from 1900 to 1990. Cross-references data from the decennial U.S. census with dissimilarity and isolation indices. Concludes that segregation patterns have consistently evolved to minimize white contact with blacks. (MJP)

The social policy implications of demographic trends are examined, to help policy makers anticipate future needs for services with greater accuracy. Crises such as energy needs and social security financing illustrate the need for greater recognition of the time dimension of public policy. Many of our most difficult problems, if they are to be…

Aside from the growth of world population itself, urbanization is the dominant demographic trend of the late twentieth century. The number of people living in cities increased from six hundred million in 1950 to over two billion in 1986. If this growth continues unabated, more than half of humanity will reside in urban areas shortly after the turn…

This report separates Puerto Ricans into four major subgroups: those who were born on the mainland and live either in New York City, or elsewhere in the United States, and those who were born in Puerto Rico and live either in New York City, or elsewhere in the United States. The report places considerable emphasis on those born on the mainland. A…