from a history book about Colonial America in the Eighteenth Century.

"Between 1700 and 1775 the rate of growth averaged about 3 percent: even higher before 1750 and falling gradually thereafter. This rate was very rapid for the time; the population jumped from one-twentieth to about one-third of Britain's. The gap would continue to narrow after 1776 so that, by 1820, the population of the United States had surpassed that of Britain. In contrast to many poor Third World countries today with similar rates of growth, the colonies possessed the space, resources, and organization to maintain the highest standard of living in the world. Few experienced starvation or even malnutrition."