US population growth slows to lowest rate ever amid pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic drove US population growth to its lowest rate in history, due in part to deaths from the virus and a drop in immigration, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.

For the 12 months ended July 1, the population of the United States grew by 392,665 or just 0.1 per cent, "the lowest rate since the nation's founding," the agency said in a statement.

"Population growth has been slowing for years because of lower birth rates and decreasing net international migration, all while mortality rates are rising due to the aging of the nation's population," said Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Population Division at the Census Bureau.

"Now, with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, this combination has resulted in a historically slow pace of growth."

Even with the decline in immigration over the latest 12-month period, the net international migration of 244,622 for the first time ever exceeded the "natural increase" of US births over deaths of 148,043, the agency said.

Due to delays in crunching the numbers caused by the pandemic, the Census Bureau's latest population report used blended data incorporating estimates from the once-a-decade 2020 census with other sources including birth, death, and migration records.

Between 2020 and 2021, 33 states saw population increases, and 17 states and the District of Columbia lost population, 11 of which had losses of over 10,000 people, the agency said, calling it "a historically large" number of states losing residents.

A separate analysis showed Texas had the biggest population increase at 1.1 per cent, mostly due to domestic migration to the state and rising net birth rates.

New York showed the biggest decline, falling 1.6 per cent in the year, mostly due to domestic migration out of the state, the agency said.