Building Awareness, Promoting Change

• NPG
• February 20, 2025
• NPG Commentary
• 0 Comments

How Migration and Demographics Shape Our Nation

The U.S. Census Bureau has released updated population estimates, revealing that the U.S. population reached 340.1 million as of July 1, 2024, reflecting a 0.98% increase from the previous year. This marks the highest year-over-year growth rate since 2000-2001.

Since 2000, the U.S. population has grown by nearly 58 million, with an average annual growth rate of 0.8%. However, growth rates have fluctuated due to events such as 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. While post-2008 economic challenges led to decreases in fertility and immigration, the pandemic caused unprecedentedly slow growth, with just a 0.16% increase in 2021. Recovery began in 2022, as migration increased, births slightly rose, and deaths declined.

Population growth in recent years has shifted from being primarily caused by natural increase (births minus deaths) to being driven by net international migration, which accounted for the majority of growth since 2021. This change reflects declining birth rates and an aging population experiencing higher mortality rates.

Understanding these trends is critical to addressing the challenges of population growth, resource management, and environmental sustainability. At NPG, we view this data as a key resource for continuing our work to raise awareness and promote policies that ultimately lead to an end to growth and a smaller, truly sustainable, U.S. population.

We are pleased to share an insightful visualization of U.S. population growth from 2003 to 2023, as published by Visual Capitalists. This map vividly illustrates how population trends have shifted over the last two decades, highlighting the states with the fastest growth, such as Utah, Idaho, and Texas, and those experiencing a decline in their overall numbers, like Illinois and West Virginia.

Explore our State Profile Series for a detailed analysis of 14 individual states and how population trends impact communities nationwide. This is an on-going project, with additional state profiles anticipated throughout the year.

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