US population growth slows

In a development with implications for future food consumption, the U.S. population has slowed significantly with an increase of only 1.8 million, or 0.5%, between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025, according to the new Vintage 2025 population estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

This was the nation’s slowest population growth since the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the population grew by a historically low 0.2% in 2021, the Census Bureau said. The slowdown also comes after a sizeable uptick of growth in 2024, when the country added 3.2 million people and grew by 1%, the fastest annual population growth rate since 2006.

“The slowdown in U.S. population growth is largely due to a historic decline in net international migration, which dropped from 2.7 million to 1.3 million in the period from July 2024 through June 2025,” said Christine Hartley, assistant division chief for Estimates and Projections at the Census Bureau. “With births and deaths remaining relatively stable compared to the prior year, the sharp decline in net international migration is the main reason for the slower growth rate we see today.”

“President Trump’s anti-immigration policies are expected to further slow population growth,” The New York Times noted in an analysis. “If current trends continue, the Census Bureau said, immigration would fall to about 321,000 in the current year, lower than the pandemic-year total of 376,000,” the Times said.