Alaska population at lowest level since 2012

Alaska's 2019 population has dipped to itslowest level since 2012 because of a falling birth rate and adecrease in the number of new arrivals to the state, officials said.

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development said thestate had 731,007 residents as of Jul.1, 2019, the Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday.

The figure is a decrease of 3,048 residents from the same date in2018, officials said.

The labor department estimates population changesbetween Jul.1 and Ju.30 each year and makes the results public inJanuary.

The state saw the birth of fewer babies in 2019 than in anysurvey period over the past 20 years.

The number of people who moved to Alaska was lower than at anypoint since 1988, when the state was in the middle of an oil-bustrecession.

"We're just way below our average of in-migrants," said statedemographer David Howell.

The U.S. Census Bureau published slightly different figures inthe last week of 2019, but the state demographer's office has accessto Alaska Permanent Fund dividend application data that give moreaccurate estimates than interim Census Bureau figures.

Only the Census Bureau's 10-year survey, which will begin Jan. 21in Toksook Bay, is more accurate, Howell said.

Alaska's population decline was second in U.S. states and behindWest Virginia, which lost 0.7 per cent of its residents between 2018 and2019, according to the Census Bureau.