Population growth in the United States has reached its lowest rate since the country's founding. The data from the Census Bureau report, last December 22, pointed out that there was a “history-making slowdown in the national population growth”.

“The nation added just 392,665 people, a 0.1 percent growth rate, in the year from July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2021”. According to an NBC News report, this slowdown is a result of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, the reduction in international immigration and low rates of fertility among women, including Latinos.

According to the publication, the Latino community in the country was responsible for more than 50% of the population growth in the country in the last decade, representing 62.1 million people in April 2020, or 18.7% of the population. In the last ten years, this growth was more significant due to the number of births than in relation to migration, unlike in the 1980s and 1990s, when the opposite occurred.

“Declining population can have economic impacts by reducing the number of available workers and affecting national production. Latinos have been key to keeping the nation’s population growing, as the whiter baby-boom generation has been aging”.

The number of births to children of Latino women has been falling, despite representing for years the ethnic group in the country with the highest birth rate.

According to the report, “In 2019, Latinas’ fertility rate was 1.93 children per woman, and for 2020, it was just under 1.87. That’s a significant drop from the 2.1 fertility rate for Latinas about five years ago”. The reasons are related to the decline in migration from Mexico, greater inclusion in higher education, and the pandemic.

However, as the publication demonstrates, Latino women are the majority when considering the fertility age group. In the United States, Latinas of childbearing age account for 61% compared to 41% of non-Latino women, projecting the population increase of Latinos due to the large number of these women of childbearing age.

Regarding deaths from Covid-19, Latinos account for about 17.2% of deaths, according to the “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” (CDC).

“CDC data also showed that in every age bracket, Hispanics have seen more deaths than their share of the U.S. population in the same age group. That’s particularly true in the 35- to 44-year-old age group. In that bracket, Hispanics are 20 percent of the population but 35 percent of Covid-19 deaths. The numbers are similar in the next-youngest age bracket, 25 to 34 years old”. 

Only the population of Puerto Rico suffered from the loss of 17,954 people in one year. This drop was mainly due to the occurrence of more deaths and due to the decrease in the inflow of migration.

“The bureau said that in the year between July 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021, net international migration — the difference in the number of people moving into the country and those leaving — exceeded natural increase, which is the number of excess births over deaths. A total of 244,622 people was added to the U.S. population through net migration in that period, while 148,043 were added through natural increase”, as disclosed by the Census office.