The Nome Nugget

Thanks to Alaska, U. S. Less Densely Populated Than Ten Years Ago

WASHINGTON (AP) - Thanks to Alaska, the United States is less densely populated than it was 10 years ago.

The Census Bureau reported today there were 50.5 persons per square mile in 1960, compared with 50.7 in the 1950 census.

Admission to Alaska to the Union reversed the long trend toward heavier population density. The vast 50th State has about 21/2 times as many square miles of land as it has human inhabitants.

If Alaska and Hawaii had been states in 1950 the population density in that census would have been 42.6 persons per square mile.

In 1900 the population density was 25.6 persons per square mile, counting Alaska and Hawaii, it would have been 21.5.

The United States still is a country of relatively low-density population. the bureau said, compared with such lands as the Netherlands with 893 inhabitants per square mile and Belgium with 769.

At the other extreme are Libya with two, Australia with three and Canada with four persons per square mile.

Rhode Island is the most densely populated state with 812 persons per square mile. New Jersey is next with 806.6.

At the other end of the density scale, following Alaska with only one 4/10ths of a person per square mile come Nevada with 2.6 persons and Wyoming with 3.4.