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Michigan, The Eighth Largest State In The Country Population Growth

Michigan, The Eighth Largest State In The Country Population Growth increased by seven percent, or 643,000 people, between 1990 and 2000, bringing its population to 9.9 million people.

Between 1990 and 2000, Livingston County was the fastest growing county in the state, increasing by 36 percent. Keweenaw County and Lake County followed, at 35 percent and 32 percent, respectively. Forty-seven of Michigan’s counties experienced population growth of ten percent or more during the 1990s.

Nearly half a million people now live in areas on or near Michigan’s Lower Peninsula lake shores. Six of the ten fastest-growing counties in the state lie on the Great Lakes. Most dramatic is the growth along Lake Michigan. Coastal areas from the Straits of Mackinac to the Indiana state line grew nearly twice as fast as the state’s population. The area from Mackinac to Sleeping Bear Dunes grew by more than 20 percent, and Ottawa County, west of Grand Rapids, grew by as much as 58 percent in some spots.2

Foreign Born Population

 Michigan’s foreign-born population increased by 47 percent during the 1990s. Between 1990 and 2000, Michigan gained 168,000 immigrants, bringing the total number of foreign-born residents in the state to 524,000. The foreign-born population went from 3.8 percent of the state’s population in 1990 to 5.4 percent in 2000.3

Demonstrating the impact of recent policies of mass immigration, 45 percent of Michigan’s immigrant population has arrived in the state since 1990. The increase in the foreign-born population during the 1990s accounted for 26 percent of the state’s overall population increase during the decade.

In some cities in Michigan, 20 percent of the population is now foreign-born.4 Due to heavy immigration, hospitals, senior care centers, and courthouses can’t keep up with the demand for translators for immigrants wanting services.5 In metropolitan Detroit, the number of people with limited English proficiency doubled in the 1990s to 62,000 in 2000.6

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