The U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday the country’s population accelerated in 2022, up from its slowest rate on record. It was driven by net international immigration as growth began to recover from a slowdown triggered by the Covid pandemic.
The country’s population expanded 0.4% this year to 333.3 million. That’s compared to a nearly stagnating 0.1% population growth rate in 2021 amid the pandemic.
The year 2021 was the first time since 1937 that the U.S. population grew by fewer than one million people—the lowest since at least 1900 when the Census Bureau started measuring annual population estimates.
Net international migration—the number of people moving in and out of the U.S.—showed a net increase of about 1.01 million people between 2021 and 2022. It was the prime driver of population growth, according to the Census Bureau.
By comparison net migration was roughly 376,000 the previous year.
Florida was the fastest-growing state in 2022, with an population increase of 1.9% to about 22.2 million.
Eighteen states experienced a population decline in 2022, compared to 15 and the District of Columbia in 2021.
California and Illinois had the largest decreases in resident population, measuring in the six figures.
