U.S. Population Growth Slows to Lowest Rate in Seven Decades

"The United States population grew only 0.72 percent last year, to 316,128,839 in July from 313,873,685 a year earlier, according to figures released Monday by the Census Bureau," reports Tamar Lewin. "It was the lowest rate in more than seven decades, said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington."

"The nation’s long shift to the South and the West is continuing," notes Lewin. "In the Midwest and the Northwest, the population edged up by less than half a percent, while in the West and the South the population grew by nearly 1 percent. There was strong growth not just in California, Texas and Florida, but also in Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Washington."