The United States population hit a record 331.9 million residents this year as net immigration to the U.S. exceeded the nation’s natural increase, the number of excess births over deaths, for the first time in American history.
U.S. Census Bureau data released on Tuesday reveals that the population has slowed to the lowest rate in American history, increasing 0.1 percent from July 2020 to July 2021, but still increased to the highest total in history — hitting 331,893,745 residents.
For comparison, the U.S. population in 1970 stood at 203 million residents.
Natural increase in the population, determined by the number of excess births over deaths from July 2020 to July 2021, contributed to about 38 percent of the 0.1 percent growth.
Meanwhile, net immigration to the U.S. contributed to about 62 percent of the population growth seen in the last year, the first time that immigration has exceeded natural increase for any given year.
By region, the South was the only region in the U.S. to see net domestic migration grow its population in the last year. With more than 127 million residents today, nearly 658,000 residents moved to the South from July 2020 to July 2021.
At the same time, the Northeast, with a population of 57.2 million residents, lost population mostly due to net domestic migration. Over the last year, nearly 400,000 residents moved out of the Northeast.
The West also lost residents from net domestic migration. Despite gaining population by about 36,000 residents, the region lost residents to other parts of the country to the sum of 145,000.
While immigration to the U.S., where more than 1.2 million green cards are awarded to foreign nationals every year, drove much of the slow population growth in the last year, the Census Bureau has projected that it will help drive the U.S. population to a record more than 400 million by the year 2060.
In the next 40 years, there will be 78 million people added to the U.S. population, with the majority deriving from illegal and legal immigration, the Census Bureau previously noted.
Such an unprecedented population total for the U.S. will translate to denser communities, an increase in vehicle traffic, strained public infrastructure, and more development across once rural areas.
The totals come as newly released Census Bureau data showed that the nation’s foreign-born population has hit a record 46.2 million with much of the increases occurring in California, Florida, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Virginia.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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