This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
While Utah's 2010 Census population of 2.76 million makes it one of the smaller states, it actually would be a middle-sized nation, according to estimates updated Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau's International Data Base.
If it were a nation, Utah would rank as the 139th largest out of 227 countries in the world that have populations of at least 5,000, according to the estimates.
Utah would rank between Jamaica (population 2.85 million) and Kuwait (population 2.53 million).
Other countries with populations similar to Utah include Albania (2.99 million), Armenia and Oman (both about 2.97 million), Latvia (2.2 million) and Namibia (2.13 million).
Meanwhile, 2010 Census data released last week shows that Utah is the 35th largest among the 50 states -- a bit smaller than Kansas and slightly larger than Nevada.
The Census Bureau now estimates the world's population at 6.89 billion people.
It said the world's largest county by population is China at 1.33 billion, followed by India (1.17 billion), the United States (310.2 million), Indonesia (243 million) and Brazil (201.1 million).
The smallest countries (of at least 5,000 people) in its data base are Montserrat (population 5,118), Saint Pierre and Miquelon (5,943), Saint Barthelemy (7,406), Saint Helena (7,640) and Nauru (9,267).
Of note, the city of Syracuse in Davis County (population 9,398) is larger than any of those five-smallest nations. And Bountiful (population 41,301) is larger than all of them combined.
The Census also estimated on Tuesday that the world's population now increases by a net 145 people a minute, with 252 births and 106 deaths per minute (figures do not add to totals due to rounding).
The Census also estimates the current life expectancy rate worldwide at 66.7 years (and 78.2 years in the United States).
It said the total fertility rate in the world -- the number of children each woman is expected to have in her lifetime -- is 2.48, but 2.06 in the United States and only 1.62 among all countries considered "developed" by the United Nations.
Utah's total fertility rate in 2006 was 2.63. Estimates by the Census show that rate is similar to India and Pakistan (both 2.65), Kyrgyzstan (2.64), Kuwait (2.68) and Malaysia (2.7).