Table 2 Growth of the United States Population: 1850 to 1990 ----------------------------------------------------- U.S. Population, in 1000s (Statistical Abstract of United States 1993, 113th Edition) Year Female Population Male Female Total Relative to 1850 1850 11,838 11,354 23,192 1.000 1860 16,085 15,358 31,443 1.353 1870 19,494 19,065 38,559 1.679 1880 25,519 24,637 50,156 2.170 1890 32,237 30,711 62,948 2.705 1900 38,816 37,178 75,994 3.274 1910 47,332 44,640 91,972 3.932 1920 53,900 51,810 105,710 4.563 1930 62,137 60,638 122,775 5.341 1940 66,062 65,608 131,670 5.778 1950 75,187 76,139 151,326 6.706 1960 88,341 90,992 179,333 8.014 1970 98,926 104,309 203,235 9.187 1980 110,053 116,493 226,546 10.260 1989 120,982 127,258 248,240 11.208 1990 121,239 127,471 248,710 11.227 1991 122,979 129,198 252,177 11.379 1992 124,358 130,564 254,922 11.499 1993 125,699 131,893 257,592 11.616 1994 127,010 133,194 260,204 11.731 1995 128,292 134,461 262,753 11.843 2000 134,338 140,477 274,815 12.372 Data beyond 1995 are projections. ----------------- Comments ----------------- It is clear that the United States Population has been anything but stable since 1850. Roentgen's discovery of the x-ray occurred in 1895, so our tabulation covers the period from 45 years before the discovery up through the present period. In all our considerations of breast-cancer, we must keep in mind that an increasing population can be anticipated to have an increasing number of breast-cancers, if all other factors are held constant. However, there is no way that female population increase alone can account for the enormous rise in breast-cancer incidence, as shown beneath Table 1.