California sees first year-over-year population decline

On Friday, California’s Department of Finance announced the state’s population fell by more than 182,000 people last year, a drop of 0.46 percent. Only a week earlier, the U.S. Census Bureau said the state had grown so slowly in the past decade compared to others that it was losing a congressional seat for the first time.

What’s behind the population decline? State officials blame the declining birth rate, reductions in immigration under President Donald Trump, and increased deaths from the pandemic. They predict that next year California will again see a slight annual population increase. For the past several decades, the state has seen more people move out of the state than move in, but immigration and births previously offset those losses.

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