US population growth at lowest rate in pandemic’s 1st year

By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press

U.S. population growth dipped to its lowest rate since the nation’s founding during the first year of the pandemic. That’s because the coronavirus curtailed immigration, delayed pregnancies and killed hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents. Figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau show that the U.S. grew by only 0.1%. The population estimates are derived from calculating the number of births, deaths and migration in the U.S. For the first time, international migration surpassed natural increases from births outnumbering deaths. There was a net increase of nearly 245,000 residents from international migration but only around 148,000 from new births.