The latest census results released by the U.S. Census Bureau on the 26th showed that there were 331 million people in the United States in 2020, an increase of 7.4% over 2010, the lowest increase since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

As the proportion of the population changes, the number of seats held by more than a dozen U.S. states in the House of Representatives will increase or decrease, which may affect the balance of power between the Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives.

【Minimum increase】

The United States conducts a census every ten years. According to the 2020 census, the population of the United States is 331,449,281. According to Agence France-Presse, the population growth rate from 2010 to 2020 is significantly lower than the 9.7% population growth rate from 2000 to 2010.

Researchers believe that the 2008 financial crisis was an important reason for the decline in US population growth in the past 10 years. Affected by the crisis, the birth rate in the United States dropped, and many Mexican immigrants returned to their hometowns. In addition, former U.S. President Donald Trump's significant tightening of immigration policies has also had a considerable impact on American demographic changes.

Affected by the Great Depression, the population growth rate of the United States from 1930 to 1940 was 7.3%.

Affected by the new corona epidemic, the release of the 2020 census results in the United States has been delayed for several months.

[Just 89 people]

After each census in the United States, seats in the House of Representatives are redistributed according to the latest population ratio. The House of Representatives has 435 seats, distributed in proportion to the population of each state, with at least one seat per state.

The population of New York State will increase by more than 4% in 2020, but because the growth rate is not as high as that of some other states, it will lose a seat in the House of Representatives next year.

Census technologist Christine Koslap said that the simulation results show that if the population of other states does not increase, and the population of New York State increases by only 89 people, it can retain all the 27 seats in the House of Representatives.

In addition to New York, California and Illinois will each lose one seat in the House of Representatives. Among them, California, the most populous, lost a seat in the House of Representatives for the first time in 170 years.

Texas will add two seats in the House of Representatives, and five states including Florida and North Carolina will add one seat each.

During the midterm elections next year, the Republican Party only needs to add five seats to control the House of Representatives. According to a Reuters report, Texas and Florida are known as the Republican strongholds. Now the newly added seats in the House of Representatives are very likely to fall into the Republican Party's bag, which will change the power of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party in Congress. (Osa)