Stronger international immigration after the easing of pandemic restrictions helped boost population gains in the U.S. and Colorado during the past year, but growth overall remains subdued, according to newly released population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

“There was a sizeable uptick in population growth last year compared to the prior year’s historically low increase,” said Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Population Division at the Census Bureau, in a news release. “A rebound in net international migration, coupled with the largest year-over-year increase in total births since 2007, is behind this increase.”

The U.S. added 1.25 million residents in the 12 months through July 1, bringing the nation’s total population to 333,287,557. Colorado’s population stood at an estimated 5,839,926 people as of July 1, which represents an annual gain of 28,629 or in percentage terms a gain of 0.49%.

While that remains ahead of the U.S. population growth rate of 0.4%, it is a fraction of the annual percentage gains seen last decade, when Colorado regularly added 70,000 or more people a year. Colorado, once a leader among states for its population growth rate, ranked 19th overall, between New Hampshire and Alabama.

“Colorado’s population growth increased very slightly. However, I would say that we saw several states, 25, slow down this year relative to last year. So, I don’t think Colorado is an outlier with a small increase between years,” said State Demographer Elizabeth Garner.

Read more on DenverPost.com.