According to census data released in September, the population of the United States grew more slowly in 2021 than in any other year on record.
The U.S. Census Bureau has attributed the record low to the coronavirus pandemic, economic shutdowns and lower numbers of migrants and births.
Al Jazeera reports that in 2021, the U.S. population grew by about 393,000, or just 0.1%, a historic low.
Luke Rogers, chief of the Census Bureau’s population estimates branch said that this rate is slower than during the influenza pandemic, World War I and the Great Depression.
"The slow rate of growth can be attributed to decreased net international migration, decreased fertility, and increased mortality due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic." U.S. Census Bureau, via Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera points out that the census data also showed that the U.S. poverty rate had risen from a 60-year low following pandemic-related economic shutdowns.
The U.S. has also become more diverse as the white population declines.
The U.S. population has been in decline since 2016 due to a variety of factors, including decreasing fertility and increasing mortality among an aging population.
According to the Census Bureau's estimates, births outnumbered deaths by only 148,000, the smallest difference in over 80 years.
"U.S. natural increase was already at a low ebb prior to COVID with the fertility rate hitting a new record low each year and deaths steadily rising due to the population aging." Kenneth Johnson, University of New Hampshire demographer, via Al Jazeera