MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • December 10, 2023
Maine is experiencing an unexpected pandemic-fueled population boom, with new arrivals filling the growing gap between deaths and births, and then some. In the past decade, Maine’s population has increased by 56,148, according to U.S. census estimates, even as the number of deaths has outnumbered births by 27,820. That means the state actually has attracted about 84,000 new residents since 2013 – significantly more than the population of its biggest city – with three-quarters of them coming in the last four years. Maine’s population growth since 2019 has been twice the national rate. As the pandemic effect continues, another factor – displacement from climate change – also could be influencing Maine’s surge and could supplant the pandemic as a driver of in-migration in years to come.