The US capital, Washington, is the 27th largest city in the country. Despite the fact that this is the main administrative center of America, it is not included in any state, being a separate unit. Washington should not be confused with the state of the same name, which has its own large cities. The Americans themselves, in order not to be mistaken, call their capital D-C.
Official statistics
Washington is a very noisy city. According to official census data, in 2015 the population of the city of Washington exceeded 600 thousand people. But these are only those people who live directly in the city. A lot of families prefer to settle in small private sectors of the suburbs, and go to work in the capital. Because of this feature, Washington’s population rises by 71% during business hours and exceeds one million. So the city is never quiet, except on official holidays.
Population growth dynamics
You can track how Washington’s population has changed since its inception, using the following table.
| Years | Population, thousand people |
Change in relation to the previous year, % |
| 1800 | 8, 144 | - |
| 1810 | 15, 471 | 90.0 |
| 1820 | 23, 336 | 50.8 |
| 1830 | 30, 261 | 69.7 |
| 1840 | 33, 745 | 11.5 |
| 1850 | 51, 678 | 53, 2 |
| 1860 | 75.08 | 45.3 |
| 1870 | 131.7 | 75, 4 |
| 1880 | 177, 624 | 34.9 |
| 1890 | 230, 392 | 29.7 |
| 1900 | 278, 718 | 21.0 |
| 1910 | 331, 069 | 18.8 |
| 1920 | 437, 571 | 32, 2 |
| 1930 | 486, 869 | 11.3 |
| 1940 | 663, 091 | 36, 2 |
| 1950 | 802, 178 | 21.0 |
| 1960 | 763, 956 | -4.8 |
| 1970 | 756.51 | -1.0 |
| 1980 | 638, 333 | -15.6 |
| 1990 | 606.9 | -4.9 |
| 2000 | 572, 059 | -5.7 |
| 2010 | 601, 723 | 5.2 |
| 2015 | 672, 228 | 11.7 |
The largest number of residents was registered in 1950 and reached 800 thousand people. This growth is explained very simply. After the great depression of the 30s, there was little work in the USA. And the most attractive seemed to be the service in the state apparatus. This is what attracted thousands of families and forced them to move in search of a better life.
But everything changed radically in the 70s, after the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. One after another, riots broke out in the city. The number of victims in the thousands. Law enforcement officers simply did not have time to monitor the terrible events that took place on the streets of the city and warn them. Naturally, such an unstable situation, the victims of terror and fear could not but affect the demographic situation. The number of inhabitants decreased until the beginning of the 21st century.
Surprisingly, even in the 90s, Washington was considered a very criminal city, and it was dangerous to live here. Now the situation has changed, and the capital is one of the quietest cities, and very comfortable and beautiful.
Racial division of inhabitants
As we have already said, Washington is an independent territory. Its population has a very heterogeneous structure. From time immemorial, it so happened in America that all possible races and nationalities were mixed here. Even those who consider themselves to be true Americans have mixed roots.
Interestingly, Washington is considered the most liberal capital in relation to sexual minorities. Therefore, there are a lot of same-sex marriage. To trace how racial categories were distributed, the figure below will help.
Since the 50s of the last century, African Americans have been the largest ethnic group. Of course, even now their number is large, but nevertheless, representatives of the Caucasian race are leading. There are a lot of blacks in the capital, but they try to settle in their quarters near the city borders or even go to the suburbs in search of cheaper life.
Washington (its population is large) is famous for the largest Hispanic group of immigrants from El Salvador and other Latin American countries. Recently, the number of Asians has been increasing. There is an immigration of people from Vietnam and China. Over the past few years, the number of refugees from Ethiopia has doubled.
Age distribution of Washington residents
Americans are very fond of statistics. They lead her on every occasion and in any situation. There are even special research centers dealing with population projections. So, they were able to derive a formula by which the population of Washington is calculated for the next ten years and even take into account all age groups. Well, how the "forces were distributed" in 2015 can be found in the figure below.
As you can see, the difference in the number of people of different age groups up to 60 years is small. This suggests that the city is developing dynamically and young people are striving here to start a family and have children. Elderly and retired people prefer to leave the center and settle in the suburbs.
Religion
What faith people live in a city like Washington? The population adheres to Christian views. This is the most accepted and understandable religion for all. As in all of America, it is customary to celebrate Catholic holidays, which are nationwide. According to statistics, the percentage of various religious groups is approximately the following:
1. Christians - more than 50%.
2. Muslims - 10.6%.
3. Jews - 4.5%.
4. Representatives of other religions - 14%.
5. Atheists - 12.8%.
Surprisingly, Washington is home to America’s second-largest Muslim community. 2.1% of the inhabitants of the city consider themselves to be this religion. They have their own mosque and even 134 restaurants with national cuisine.
