US population growth rate slowest in decades

An expert has revealed that America's population is growing at its slowest rate in decades, blaming it on its sluggish economy.

The US population grew by just 0.72 percent in the year ended July 1, 2013, according to the Census Bureau. That's the slowest growth rate since 1937, the Huffington Post reported.

Population growth has hovered at super-low levels for the past few years, according to William Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan research organization.

The trend is "troubling," Frey said, and is due largely to the weak economy.

Indeed, this recent period of economic malaise has been plagued by low birth rates, fewer marriages and limited mobility, especially for America's young people.

Typically in a strong economy, workers and immigrants travel to where the jobs are, but the Census data show they're not really moving, Frey said.

And though the recession technically ended in June 2009, and economists are hoping for a stronger economy in 2014, population growth shows little sign of gaining strength.

About half of the states showed somewhat slower growth rates this year than last year, Frey said.