by Bruce Walker
Michigan’s population ticked up by 0.027 percent between July 2018 and July 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest figures released Monday.
The state remains the 10th most populous in the nation. By the latest tally, Michigan boasts just fewer than 10 million residents in a nation with 328,239,523 people.
Michigan tenth-place ranking places it behind first-place California with a population of 39.5 million. Also ranked in the top-10 spots, in order, are Texas (28.9 mil); Florida (21.4 mil); New York (19.4 mil); Pennsylvania (12.8 mil); Illinois (12.67 mil); Ohio (11.68 mil); Georgia (10.6 million) and ninth-place North Carolina (10.4 mil).
The state’s current population reflects an annual growth of only 102,691 residents, or 1.03 percent, since 2000. In fact, the Census Bureau reports 42 states, including Michigan, and the District of Columbia experienced fewer births in 2019 than 2018. All told, the U.S. population grew by 0.5 percent during the same period, compared to a 0.73 percent peak between 2014 and 2015.
Michigan is one of 40 states to experience population growth during the one-year period between 2018 and 2019. Ten states lost population; New York and Illinois leading the pack with population losses of, respectively, 76,790 and 51,250.
“While natural increase is the biggest contributor to the U.S. population increase, it has been slowing over the last five years,” according to a statement from Sandra Johnson, a demographer/statistician in the Population Division of the USCB. “Natural increase, or when the number of births is greater than the number of deaths, dropped below 1 million in 2019 for the first time in decades.”
– – –
Bruce Walker is a regional editor at The Center Square.
Photo “Downtown Marquette” by Tony Webster.
