The U.S. inhabitants grew by the smallest charge in a minimum of 120 years from 2019 to 2020, in response to figures launched Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau—a pattern that demographers say gives a glimpse of the coronavirus pandemic’s toll.

Inhabitants development within the U.S. already was stagnant over the previous a number of years on account of immigration restrictions and a dip in fertility, however coronavirus-related deaths exacerbated that lethargic-growth pattern, stated William Frey, a senior fellow at The Brooking Establishment’s Metropolitan Coverage Program.

“I believe it is a first glimpse of the place we could also be heading so far as low inhabitants development,” Frey stated. “It is telling you that that is having an impression on inhabitants.”

The U.S. inhabitants grew by 0.35% from July 2019 to July 2020, a rise of 1.1 million folks in a nation whose estimated inhabitants in July was greater than 329 million residents, in response to Census Bureau estimates.

An evaluation by Frey exhibits that it is the smallest improve this century and smaller than any within the final century as effectively. On the peak of the Spanish flu, the development charge from 1918 to 1919 was 0.49%—even with U.S. troops overseas throughout World Warfare I.

The estimates launched Tuesday have been performed independently of the 2020 census, which is a head depend of each U.S. resident. The 2020 census numbers are nonetheless being crunched.