FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2002
**REVISED**
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e-mail: pio@census.gov Quotes and Radio sound bites
U.S. Population Up 3 Million in the Last Year;
Nevada Grows Over Three Times as Fast as Nation
The nation's population grew by 1.1 percent, or 3.1 million people,
between July 1, 2001, and July 1, 2002, to total 288.4 million, according
to estimates released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.
The estimates, available today after 6 p.m. EST, may be found, via
Internet Explorer, on the Census Bureau's Web site at <www.census.gov>
by clicking on "Estimates."
"Nevada experienced the fastest growth among states over this period as
its population rose 3.6 percent to 2.2 million," said Census Bureau
demographer Melissa Therrien. "It's been the fastest-growing state in the
nation each of the past 16 years." Rounding out the list of the five most
rapidly growing states were Arizona (2.8 percent), Florida (2.1 percent),
Texas (1.9 percent) and Georgia (1.8 percent). (See table [PDF 5.6K].)
"Since the latest population estimates were released about a year ago,
Texas replaced Colorado as one of the five fastest-growing states,"
Therrien said. "These five states accounted for more than one-third of the
national growth."
California remained the most populous state in the nation with 35.1
million people in 2002. California's population constituted 12.2 percent
of the U.S. total. The second and third most populous states Texas (21.8
million) and New York (19.2 million) together accounted for 14.2 percent
of the country's population.
Between July 1, 2001, and July 1, 2002, only the District of Columbia
and North Dakota experienced population declines. The District of
Columbia's population declined by 0.5 percent to approximately 571,000,
and North Dakota's total declined by 0.4 percent to about 634,000
residents. Both the District of Columbia's and North Dakota's populations
declined at a slower rate than they have in some recent years.
Other highlights:
- The nation's 10 most populous states accounted for 54 percent of
its population on July 1, 2002.
- The 10 fastest-growing states since July 1, 2001, accounted for 59
percent of the national growth.
- Of the 10 most populous states, three are located in the
Northeast, three in the Midwest, three in the South and one in the
West.
- Of the 10 fastest-growing states since July 1, 2001, seven are in
the West and three in the South.
- While the South had the largest numerical population increase
among regions since July 1, 2001 (1.4 million), the West recorded the
fastest rate of growth (1.6 percent).
The population estimate for Puerto Rico for July 1, 2002 is 3.9 million,
up about 20,000 people since July 1, 2001. Puerto Rico's one-year increase
of 0.5 percent was slightly lower than increases in previous years.
These estimates include demographic components of change for individual
states: births, deaths, net internal migration and net international
migration.
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