The U.S. population barely grew in 2022, according to new estimates released by the Census Bureau on Wednesday. The nation added just 0.1% more people between July 1, 2021 and July 1, 2022, the lowest annual growth rate since 1937.
The main reason for the population slowdown was a sharp decline in the number of births, which fell to a record low of 3.4 million in 2022. That was down 4% from 2021 and 11% from 2014, when births peaked at 3.9 million.
The birth rate, or the number of births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, also dropped to a record low of 55.8 in 2022, down from 57.3 in 2021 and 62.9 in 2014.
The Census Bureau attributed the decline in births to several factors, including the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted health care services and family planning; the aging of the millennial generation, which has fewer women in their prime childbearing years; and the rising costs of child care and education, which may discourage some couples from having children.
The decline in births was partially offset by an increase in immigration, which added about 1 million people to the U.S. population in 2022. However, immigration was still below pre-pandemic levels, as travel restrictions and visa backlogs limited the flow of newcomers.
The Census Bureau also reported that deaths increased by 3% in 2022, reaching 2.9 million. The increase was mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused more than 800,000 deaths in the U.S. since early 2020.
The combination of fewer births, more deaths and modest immigration resulted in a net increase of only about 320,000 people in the U.S. population in 2022, the smallest gain since 1918.
The Census Bureau projected that the U.S. population will continue to grow slowly in the coming years, reaching about 332 million by July 1, 2023 and about 334 million by July 1, 2024.
The population slowdown has implications for the economy, politics and society of the U.S., as it affects labor supply, consumer demand, tax revenues, social security spending, congressional representation and electoral votes.