California’s population drops for the first time in its history, according to new state data

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — California's population shrank last year, the first time in its 171-year history that the nation's most-populous state has seen a decline in the number of people living here.

The state Department of Finance reported Friday that the population dropped by 182,083 people, or 0.46 percent, between Jan. 1, 2020, and the end of the year. The agency attributed the decline to out-of-state migration, slower international immigration and the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed nearly 61,000 residents at a time when the state is recording among the lowest birthrates in the nation.