Barrett, K. (2022, December 27). Growth in U.S. population shows early indication of recovery amid covid-19 pandemic. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/2022-population-estimates.html
The United States has constantly experienced a population increase until 2020-2021 due to the pandemic, however, the time between 2021 and 2022 has made up for the loss. The total increase of about 0.4% can be attributed to returning immigration rates, and experts such as Kristie Wilder state we have seen “the largest year-to-year total births since 2007”. The Southern and Western states are recorded as having regional population growth, with the South’s population increase standing at 1.1%, and the West’s standing at 0.2%; contrarily, the Northeast and Midwestern states experienced a decrease, with the Northeast losing 0.4% of its residents, and the Midwest losing 0.1% of its respective population. Interestingly, while the regional and national population changes were due to migration and birth rates increasing or decreasing, in territories such as Puerto Rico, the population decrease was due to a result of rising death rates out measuring birth rates.
This article relates to Environmental Science as we have started to focus on population charts and began measuring birth and fertility rates as well as mortality rates. This specifically ties into population growth as a whole in terms of searching for reasons, however with this article specifically, it addresses the mortality rates as well, a factor we have been delving into as well during our studies. Along with that, the pandemic, which is a recurring topic in this article, had an incredible impact on other factors we’ve been studying, not just population. It changed multitudes such as animal migration patterns and CO2 emissions for example.
Mezzy- It’s interesting to see the regional changes in the US. I wonder if it’s more because of babies being born or people moving in or moving out? I wonder how much US covid mortalities brought down our growth, like the deaths in Puerto Rico. Hopefully there won’t be another pandemic surge for a long long while.
So, recognizing the problems of a shrinking population and knowing we are in the “post industrial” phase of demographic transition, would you encourage more immigration to bring in more workers to fuel are economy? It’s such a divisive issue, but are those added people necessary to our workforce?
Thanks for getting the scoop on all these pop stories this year. Hoping it kept you interested and you feel very informed on the issue.
I think the spike in population is interesting and I wonder if this puts more strain on energy production/food production. Was the population increase due to an increase in births? I also wonder what the effects on the environment where during the worst waves on the pandemic. Did the lack of transport usage i9mprove the environment?
I think it’s really interesting how environmental factors affect birth and death rates. Even a 1% difference could cause some ripples in certain locations’ populations. I wonder how bad the rural-to-urban population shifts will change over time.