In 1936, the number of pages in the Federal Register (which provides a rough sense of the flow of new and changed regulations) was about 3,000. By 1970, it had grown to 20,000, and by 1980, it further expanded to over 70,000 pages, but fell to 50,000 by 1988. It then inexorably grew and topped out at 97,000 in 2016. In 2018, it was a breezy read of just 68,000.