South dominates US population gains as deaths drop
ABC News
South Carolina and Florida were the two fastest-growing states in the U.S. this year
ORLANDO, Fla. -- South Carolina and Florida were the two fastest-growing states in the U.S., as the South dominated population gains in 2023, and the U.S. growth rate ticked upward slightly from the depths of the pandemic due to a drop in deaths, according to estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The United States added 1.6 million people, of which more than two-thirds came from international migration. The half percent growth rate was a slight uptick from the 0.4% growth rate last year and the less than 2% increase in 2021.
The growth rate “is an uptick from the pandemic but still low by historical standards,” said William Frey, a demographer at The Brookings Institution.
Population gains or losses come from births outpacing deaths, or vice versa, and migration.
There were about 300,000 fewer deaths this year compared with a year earlier. That helped double the natural increase to more than 500,000 people in 2023. However, it was the 1.1 million immigrants who drove population gains in the U.S. this year, according to estimates that measure change from mid-2022 to mid-2023.
