Census world and US population clocks

Question

I'm trying to figure out the formula used by the US Census Department's world and US population clocks here:

https://www.census.gov/popclock/?intcmp=home_pop

I'm pretty sure they're using a browser-computed formula and not contacting a server on the back end.

I downloaded the source of that page (including the javascript includes), but couldn't find where or how this function was defined.

I did look through the various help pages, and they explain in general terms how the population count is computed, but without providing any actual numbers or even general formulas.

I'm aware there are other population clocks that do publish their formulas, but they are not in agreement with the Census population clocks.

Any help appreciated.

Answer 1

OK, I feel pretty silly. Just seconds after posting I found:

https://www.census.gov/popclock/data/population.php/us

https://www.census.gov/popclock/data/population.php/world

which gives replies like this:

{"us":{"label":"United States","estimate":true,"population":323177593,"population_rate":0.067974537,"rate_interval":"second","last_updated":"1458140658","components":{"birth_rate":{"increment":1,"interval":"8","unit":"seconds"},"death_rate":{"increment":1,"interval":"11","unit":"seconds"},"immigrant_rate":{"increment":1,"interval":"29","unit":"seconds"}},"date":"03\/16\/2016"}}

{"world":{"label":"World Population","estimate":true,"population":7312020325,"population_rate":2.47551113,"rate_interval":"second","last_updated":"1458140658","monthly_estimates":{"1435708800":{"population":7256490011,"estimate":true,"projected":false},"1438387200":{"population":7263120419,"estimate":true,"projected":false},"1441065600":{"population":7269750827,"estimate":true,"projected":false},"1443657600":{"population":7276167351,"estimate":true,"projected":false},"1446336000":{"population":7282797759,"estimate":true,"projected":false},"1448928000":{"population":7289214283,"estimate":true,"projected":false},"1451606400":{"population":7295844691,"estimate":true,"projected":false},"1454284800":{"population":7302475099,"estimate":true,"projected":false},"1456790400":{"population":7308677739,"estimate":true,"projected":false},"1459468800":{"population":7315308147,"estimate":true,"projected":true},"1462060800":{"population":7321724671,"estimate":true,"projected":true},"1467331200":{"population":7334771614,"estimate":true,"projected":true}},"date":"20160316"}}

So, yes, the clock does contact a server everytime you load the page.