The U.S. population grew by 0.7 percent in the past year, its smallest annual expansion in 80 years, the Census Bureau said this week.
The U.S. population grew by 0.7 percent in the past year, its smallest annual expansion in 80 years, the Census Bureau said this week.
The nation added about 2.2 million people from July 2015 to July 2016, bringing the total population to just over 323 million. In relative terms, that was the slowest rate of annual growth since 1937, although census methods have changed over that time.
The sluggishness is nothing new: The U.S. population entered a period of slow expansion in recent years, with growth averaging just over 0.7 percent in the 2010s, according to an analysis of census data. The rate averaged about 1 percent annually in the 2000s and 1.2 percent in the 1990s. In the 1950s, the middle of the baby boom, growth averaged 1.8 percent each year.
With birthrates generally low and members of that outsize boomer generation entering their 60s and 70s, growth may continue to slow for years to come.
“We are going to see, for probably another 10, 15 years, the number of deaths increasing, and that’s going to slow down the net growth,” said Jeffrey S. Passel, a senior demographer at the Pew Research Center.
Historic as it may be, this year’s rate is only somewhat slower than in recent years, experts said. And, the Census Bureau itself noted, methods for tallying the population have changed slightly. For almost 40 years in the mid-1900s, members of the Armed Forces overseas were included in the count; Alaska and Hawaii were not counted for the first half of that century.
Despite the slow national expansion, some states had substantial growth in population.
The population of Utah, the nation’s fastest-growing state this year, expanded by about 2 percent, as did Nevada. Idaho was next, followed by Florida and Washington, with about 1.8 percent each.
For Utah, leading this year may simply be a result of not having yet been hit by the very factors slowing growth nationally.
“We’re lagging behind those trends in fertility and household formation and all,” said Pamela Perlich, director of demographic research at the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.
They may be slow in coming, but those same drags on growth may well hit Utah, too, she said.
A state’s fortunes can quickly reverse, as they did for North Dakota this year. After four years as the nation’s fastest-growing state, North Dakota dropped out of the Top 10 altogether, thanks to residents fleeing for other parts of the country.
Only eight states posted declines, with West Virginia shrinking the most, relatively, by 0.5 percent. Illinois lost more residents than any other state, shedding nearly 38,000, driven by people moving out.
The West dominated the top of the list, accounting for seven of the 10 fastest-expanding states. That region and the more-populous South each had population growth of nearly 1.1 percent over the year.
“The movement to the South and West is a very long-term trend,” said Passel of Pew, adding that those regions attract older residents of the Northeast and Midwest looking for more temperate places to retire.
The Midwest expanded by nearly 0.2 percent, while the population in the Northeast remained virtually unchanged. Both regions lost more residents than they gained from migration, although that was offset by more births than deaths.
The South is now home to 38 percent of the national population, while 24 percent of Americans live in the West. The Midwest is home to 21 percent of the population, and the Northeast is home to 17 percent.
California was the most populous state, with 39.3 million residents. Texas was next with 27.9 million, followed by Florida, New York and Illinois. Texas grew more, by sheer number, than any other state, adding about 433,000 people. Florida was next, with 368,000 new residents.