Historic low population growth
Just 0.1% in U.S. is smallest since 1776, amid COVID pandemic
The U.S. population grew slower than ever last year, according to Census Bureau estimates.
Dropping birth rates, higher deaths rates during the COVID pandemic and limited immigration meant the country added 392,665 people between July 2020 and July 2021 — a 0.1% increase, the lowest recorded since the nation was founded in 1776.
Before this year, the last time the U.S. failed to add 1 million people was 1937 during the Great Depression.
The U.S. growth rate has been declining for years, but the latest drop even surprised experts.
“I was expecting low growth but nothing this low,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution.
For the first time in recorded American history, the U.S. gained more people through immigration than through births outnumbering deaths, according to the Census Bureau. The natural increase of 148,043 was dwarfed by the migration increase of 244,622.
The data was estimated between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021. In that time, at least 476,100 Americans died from COVID-19, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Governments also closed borders in response to the pandemic, limiting possibilities for immigration.
“Of course most of this is COVID, but not all of it,” said Kenneth Johnson, a University of New Hampshire demographer. “U.S. natural increase was already at a low ebb prior to COVID with the fertility rate hitting a new record low each year and deaths steadily rising due to the population aging.”
New York’s population declined by 1.6%, the highest percentage of any state. Washington, D.C., was the only location to top it, as the nation’s capital saw its population decline by 2.9%
New York also lost more people than any other state, with the Empire State population dropping by 319,020, according to Census Bureau estimates. California, which has about twice as many people, was No. 2 in raw population decline, losing 261,902 people. It was the first time in recorded history that California’s population declined.
Those people appear to have headed for the mountains in the West. Idaho, Utah, Montana and Arizona saw their populations increase by the highest percentages, with Idaho leading the way at 2.9% and the other three between 1.4% and 1.7%.
Texas and Florida led the way in raw population gain, with the Lone Star state topping 300,000 new people and Florida adding more than 200,000.