America’s population grew at the lowest rate on record this year, according to Census Bureau figures that show how the pandemic is changing the country’s demographic contours. The United States added just 393,000 people in the year that ended July 1, including 148,000 more births than deaths, a surplus that has long supplied much of the nation’s growth. Population growth had been slowing before the pandemic, but it had averaged more than 2 million a year over the last decade. Birthrates have fallen steadily since the 2007-09 recession. Death rates had edged up, especially in states hit hardest by the opioid epidemic. And immigration dropped in recent years under policies set by former President Trump.
