What the 2020 census data tells us about a changing America csmonitor.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from csmonitor.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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The first batch of data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows a country that is growing less quickly and seeing its population shift to the South and the West.
The data released Monday were relatively basic, containing national and state-level population figures and details of how they affect states’ representation in Congress. Still, the findings contained some surprises and pointed to some consequential trends.
Five takeaways from the new census data:
More sluggish growth ahead?
The U.S. population grew to 331 million, a 7.4% growth rate from the last time the Census Bureau counted every person in the country, in 2010. Those may sound like big numbers, but it’s actually the second-slowest rate of population growth the census has ever recorded, just behind the 7.3% growth in the 1930s.
MORE SLUGGISH GROWTH AHEAD?
The U.S. population grew to 331 million, a 7.4% growth rate from the last time the Census Bureau counted every person in the country, in 2010. Those may sound like big numbers, but it s actually the second slowest rate of population growth the census has ever recorded, just behind the 7.3% growth in the 1930s.
That decade s slowed growth was rooted in the Great Depression. Our past decade s sluggish rate had similar beginnings in the long shadow of the Great Recession. The drawn-out recovery saw many young adults struggling to enter the job market, delaying marriage and starting a family. That dealt a blow to the nation s birthrate. Then the pandemic hit last year and made matters worse.
US population declines to slowest growth rate since Depression
This article is provided courtesy of the Associated Press.
Crowd of people walking on the busy city street. (Shutterstock)
April 26, 2021
WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. population growth has slowed to the lowest rate since the Great Depression, the Census Bureau said Monday, as Americans continued their march to the South and West and one-time engines of growth, New York and California, lost political influence.
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Altogether, the U.S. population rose to 331,449,281 last year, the Census Bureau said, a 7.4% increase that was the second-slowest ever. Experts say that paltry pace reflects the combination of an aging population, slowing immigration and the scars of the Great Recession more than a decade ago, which led many young adults to delay marriage and families.
US marks slowest population growth since the Great Depression
Updated 6:44 AM;
Today 6:44 AM
The frame of new home under construction sits in a neighborhood under development in north Dallas, Thursday, April 15, 2021. The first numbers from the 2020 census show southern and western states gaining congressional seats. The once-a-decade head count shows where the population grew during the past 10 years and where it shrank.AP Photo/LM Otero
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WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. population growth has slowed to the lowest rate since the Great Depression, the Census Bureau said, as Americans continued their march to the South and West and one-time engines of growth, New York and California, lost political influence.