New Population Estimates Show COVID-19 Pandemic Significantly Disrupted Migration Across Borders

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted international migration patterns both to and from the United States, resulting in the lowest levels of international migration in decades and affecting the data typically used to measure migration flows.

Net international migration (NIM) added 247,000 to the nation's population between 2020 and 2021, according to U.S. Census Bureau July 1, 2021 population estimates released today.

For example, through June 2021, land borders between the United States, Mexico and Canada remained closed to non-essential travel and three-fourths of U.S. consulates abroad, which issue visas, remained closed.

This is a notable drop from last decade’s high of 1,049,000 between 2015 and 2016. This is also lower than the 477,000 added between 2019 and 2020, which overlapped with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most COVID restrictions remained in place over the 2021 estimates year (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021), greatly reducing the movement of people to and from the country.

For example, through June 2021, land borders between the United States, Mexico and Canada remained closed to non-essential travel and three-fourths of U.S. consulates abroad, which issue visas, remained closed.

Travel restrictions from certain countries remained in place and despite changes in immigration policies, the tremendous backlog for issuing visas and settling refugees continued.

All these disruptions required an adjustment to our NIM estimates to reflect the impact of COVID-19 on international migration.

Using publicly available administrative data sources, we adjusted our American Community Survey (ACS)-based NIM estimates based on trends seen with these data, which more accurately reflected migration patterns during the pandemic period. This resulted in the lowest NIM totals in decades.

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