File this under "old news":

The number of student pilots in the U.S. peaked in 1968, declined for a
while before climbing to its highest (and last) peak in 1979. The highest
total number of pilots peaked the next year and has been declining since
then:

http://www.aopa.org/special/newsroom/stats/pilots.html

(Since 2002 there have been more CFIs than students.)

In 1980 there was 1 pilot for every 274 people.
In 2006 there was 1 pilot for every 502 people.

(Population of U.S. for 2006 rounded to 300,000,000 and for 1980 taken from
he
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demogra..._United_States )