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				Vintage 2024 numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau was released 
				Thursday. The U.S. population grew by nearly 1.0% between 2023 
				and 2024. 
				 
				“As the nation’s population surpasses 340 million, this is the 
				fastest annual population growth the nation has seen since 2001 
				– a notable increase from the record low growth rate of 0.2% in 
				2021,” the Census said in a news release. “The growth was 
				primarily driven by rising net international migration.” 
				 
				For the first time in a decade, Illinois gained population in 
				the annual estimate. 
				 
				Thursday’s numbers show Illinois’ population in 2020 was 12.79 
				million people. The following year, the state was 12.70 million 
				people. In 2022, Illinois continued to shrink with 12.62 million 
				people. But, Thursday’s Census update has the population 
				increasing to 12.42 million in 2023 and up to 12.71 million for 
				2024. 
				 
				Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski says some may applaud the 
				state's increasing population after 10 years of losses, but the 
				numbers paint an ominous picture.  
				 
				“I would call this the big illegal immigration census count,” 
				Dabrowski said. “You had California, New York and Illinois, 
				three big losers over the last decade, suddenly gain in 
				population and it’s all due to the way they are counting now 
				illegal immigrants.”  
				 
				International migration was 113,000 for the year in Illinois, 
				offsetting the 56,235 people who left to other states.  
				 
				“Thank President [Joe] Biden for opening the floodgates at the 
				border,” Dabrowski told The Center Square. “That’s the only 
				reason we grew in population.”  
				 
				Dabrowski is the son of migrants. He said he supports 
				immigration, but not the kind of open borders from under the 
				previous four years of the Biden administration.  
				 
				“It’s a tough way to try and replace wealthy or productive 
				citizens from Illinois who move to other states and replace them 
				with lower income and struggling immigrants,” Dabrowski said.
				 
				 
				Over the last year, Illinois’ population change ranked at No. 36 
				of all states. For the past four years, where the state lost 
				more than 111,000 people, the state ranked at No. 48.   | 
				
				
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