Population Losers (2024)

FAQs

Which U.S. states are losing population? ›

State highlights

Eight states continued to lose residents in 2023—New York (-0.52), Louisiana (-0.31%), Hawaii (-0.3%), Illinois (-0.26%), West Virginia (-0.22%), California (-0.19%), Oregon (-0.14%), and Pennsylvania (-0.08%)—and all did so at a slower pace than in the previous year.

CHALLENGING CULTURAL NORMS. Challenging cultural norms about what it means to be a parent may also offer solutions for young families. A more equal sharing between women and men of income-earning, household, and childcare responsibilities could encourage more young people to start families.

According to the most authoritative population projections, calculated every few years by the United Nations Population Division, we will likely pass the 9 billion milestone in 2037, and peak around 10.4 billion in the 2080s. The UN does not foresee any significant population decline for the remainder of the century.

In 2024, the United States continues to face significant demographic challenges. Propelled by falling birth rates, the U.S. population is rapidly aging and steadily declining. In turn, the country is experiencing economic and social pressures caused by labor shortages.

Philadelphia City, Pennsylvania

According to the above methodology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the fastest declining large city in the US. Philadelphia suffered from the pandemic just like every other American city. It managed to reverse the pandemic's effects on the job market by the third quarter of 2022.

Texas experienced the largest numeric change in the nation, adding 473,453 people, followed by Florida, which added 365,205 residents. South Carolina and Florida were the two fastest-growing states in the nation, growing by 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively, in 2023.

In fact, before long, we will have to start worrying about underpopulation, caused by rapidly falling birth rates. It turns out that this is bad news not only for humanity but also for the planet, because more humans means more available resources and less destructive impact on nature.

Fundamentally, a reduced global population translates to lower demand for resources such as water, wood, and energy, ultimately alleviating pressures on ecosystems. When considering this, one could argue that global population decline is a positive trend.

Our growing population

The world's population is expected to increase by nearly 2 billion persons in the next 30 years, from the current 8 billion to 9.7 billion in 2050 and could peak at nearly 10.4 billion in the mid-2080s.

On October 18, 2023, the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (2023) broadcast a Yes-or-No debate on the statement: “The population of humans that can be supported sustainably on the planet at a reasonable standard of living is below 4 billion.” Here is an abridged version of Joel E.

What year will world population peak? ›

The population projection data we used to create this graphic is listed in the table below. Note that UN projections are as of 2022, IHME are as of 2020, and IIASA are as of 2014. From this data we can see that the UN expects the world to hit peak population in 2086, as well as maintain above 10 billion people in 2100.

From 2050 to 2100, the total global fertility rate is set to fall further from 1.83 to 1.59. The replacement rate — or number of children a couple would need to have to replace themselves — is 2.1 in most developed countries.

The U.S. population is aging faster than ever. One hundred years ago, one out of every 20 Americans were senior citizens; by fifty years ago, this share had doubled. New U.S. Census projections estimate this share will soon double once again to one out of every five Americans.

In the Cook Islands in 2023, the population decreased by about 2.31 percent compared to the previous year, making it the country with the highest population decline rate in 2023.

According to a December release by the Census Bureau, California, Illinois and New York—along with West Virginia, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Oregon — lost population in 2023 compared to 2022. Throughout the new Census first released in 2020, all three states have shown continuously sinking population numbers.

New York and California were the top two states that had the highest number of people moving out as a share of their total number of movers.

Wyoming is ranked the lowest in the population, with only 576,851 residents.

For the first time in decades, California's Black population decreased, from 2.2 million people in 2000 to 2.1 million now. Also Black Californians have moved away from urban centers to places like the Inland Empire and Sacramento.

Nagaland recorded the lowest growth rate of -0.5 percent. India has 641,000 inhabited villages and 72.2 percent of the total population reside in these rural areas.