Hawaii added 11,000 new residents since last year

The Census Bureau on Dec. 22 said Hawaii has added an estimated 11,000 residents in the past year, increasing its population by less than 1 percent to more than 1.2 million residents. Between July 1, 2007, and July 1, 2008, there were 19,182 births, 9,355 deaths, 4,098 net international in-migrants and 3,752 net domestic out-migrants.

Utah was the fastest-growing state in the past year, growing at a 2.5 percent clip. Arizona, with a 2.3 percent increase, was the second fastest-growing state and Texas, North Carolina and Colorado tied for No. 3, with all three growing at a 2 percent rate.

Michigan lost the most people, 46,000, in the past year.

Population growth in 2007 was the lowest since 2000 at 0.2 percent, according to Dr. Tian, chief of the Statistics and Data Support Branch at the state Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism. The average annual growth rate between 2000 and 2008 was 0.8 percent.  “Hawaii’s population increase was mainly due to the natural increase – births minus deaths.  Average births during the 2000-2008 period were 18,205 per year; average deaths during the same period were 8,870, resulting in an average natural increase of 9,335 per year,” he said.

Hawaii’s total resident population in 2008, which is 1,288,198, ranks 42nd in the nation among all the states and accounts for just 0.42 percent of the total U.S. population of 304 million. California ranks No. 1 with 36.8 million people or 12.1 percent of the U.S. total.