The influx of immigrants to the United States in 2024 will push the country's population to more than 340 million people, the highest rate of population growth in 23 years, according to a Thursday report from the U.S. Census Bureau.
From 2023 to 2024, the U.S. population will grow by nearly 1%, the highest increase since 2001. By contrast, annual population estimates show a record-low 0.2% growth rate in 2021, at the height of pandemic-related travel restrictions to the United States. show.
This year, the number of immigrants increased by about 2.8 million people, partly due to a new counting method that includes people allowed into the country for humanitarian reasons.
According to the Census Bureau, net international migration, which refers to changing residences across U.S. borders, was a key component of the changes driving the growth in the resident population.
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This photo shows migrants encountered at the southern Arizona border. (U.S. Border Patrol)
Of the 3.3 million people added to the country last year, net overseas migration accounted for 84%.
This increase reflects the continued upward trend in international migration, with a net increase of 1.7 million people in 2022 and 2.3 million people in 2023.
“Improved integration of federal data sources on immigration strengthens our estimation methodology,” said Christine Hartley, deputy director of estimates and forecasts. “With this update, we can now better understand how the recent increase in overseas migration is impacting the country's overall population growth.”
Last year, there were about 519,000 more births than deaths in the U.S., above the historic low of 146,000 in 2021, but still well below the highest in decades.
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Haitian migrants who have been approved for humanitarian parole cheer as they board a bus transporting migrants to the United States at the Senda de Vida shelter in Reynosa, Mexico, on August 30, 2022. (Michael Nigro/Getty Images)
The U.S. Census Bureau did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on this report.
The report, along with immigration statistics, showed that the South will be the fastest growing region in the United States in 2024, increasing its population by 1.8 million people, more residents than all other regions combined. .
Texas had the largest increase with 562,941 new residents, followed by Florida with 467,347 new residents.
Washington, DC had the highest growth rate in the nation at 2.2%.
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Migrants wait for U.S. Customs and Border Protection appointments in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, May 23, 2023. People are waiting in line to enter shelters set up by authorities for migrants. (Christian Torres Chavez/Anadolu Agency, via Getty Images)
Some states, including Mississippi, Vermont, and West Virginia, experienced population declines in 2024, ranging from 127 to 516 people.
Included in this year's international migration estimates are groups who entered the United States through the Biden administration's humanitarian parole, which has been heavily criticized by Republicans.
The Washington, D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute reported last week that more than 5.8 million people entered the country under various humanitarian policies between 2021 and 2024.
However, determining the number of new immigrants is a difficult aspect of U.S. population projections.
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The bureau's annual calculations of the number of immigrants who entered the U.S. in the 2020s are far lower than numbers cited by other federal agencies, such as the Congressional Budget Office. The Census Bureau estimates that 1.1 million immigrants will enter the United States in 2023, compared to the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of 3.3 million.
Under the revised methodology, last year's immigration count will be recalculated by the Census Bureau to nearly 2.3 million people, or an additional 1.1 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
