Recession-wracked California saw one of the lowest population growth levels in history during the fiscal year that ended June 30, the state Department of Finance reported today.
California's population grew by less than one percent, adding an estimated 353,000 new residents, during the 12-month period, the department's demographers believe. The only years of lower growth since 1900 were during another period of deep recession, 1994 to 1996, when an estimated million-plus Californians left the state.
A sharply decreased level of foreign immigration, both legal and illegal, was apparently the major reason for the dropoff in population growth. The department says net migration - those moving into the state minus those that moved out - was just 37,000. It estimates that 179,000 foreign immigrants came to California during the year while 142,000 residents left for elsewhere. But the state's production of babies, its primary source of growth, remained high at 547,000, offset by 231,000 deaths.
Overall growth since the 2000 census is 4.6 million, the department says, and now stands at 38.5 million. The new estimates continue, however, a dispute between the state and the U.S. Census Bureau, which believes there are a million fewer Californians, primarily because the feds calculate that there's been far more outward migration than the state counts. The 2010 census apparently will resolve the issue, which affects the state's subventions from the federal government and how many congressional seats it will have.
The full Department of Finance report is available here.
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