New Hampshire’s population continues to edge up slightly due to people moving into the state, compensating for the fact that more state residents are dying than are being born.
Between July 2021 and June 2022, the state’s population grew by 7,700 people, or half of one percent, to 1,395,000, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
This happened despite the fact that about 2,000 more state residents died than were born during that period. New Hampshire is one of the oldest states in the country and had been seeing what is known as natural decrease – more deaths than births – even before COVID-19 arrived. The pandemic has increased the trend: Since the start of 2020, deaths from all causes have increased by an average of 3 ½ people per day, according to an analysis by the Monitor.
However, the pandemic has also changed many people’s working and living habits, contributing to an increase in migration from other states and sometimes other countries.
“In all, 10,200 more people moved into New Hampshire than left between July of 2021 and July of 2022. Nearly 62 percent of this migration gain was because more people moved here from other states, but the state also gained from immigration,” wrote Kenneth Johnson, senior demographer with UNH’s Carsey School of Public Policy.
In New England, the states of Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island also saw more deaths than births. Maine and Vermont had population increase due to in-migration but Rhode Island’s total population fell slightly.
Massachusetts and Connecticut had more births than deaths but the Bay State’s population fell because more people left the state than arrived.
“New England’s population gain in the past year was only .06 percent compared to a U.S. gain of .38 percent. Both these population gains are low compared to historical trends,” Johnson wrote.
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