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

New data released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that the country's population grew by only 2.3 million residents last year. Growth was strongest in the South and West, but North Dakota and D.C. saw the biggest percentage gains.

1 minute read

December 31, 2013, 5:00 AM PST

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


"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."


Monday, December 30, 2013 in The New York Times

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