If it wasn’t for babies it’s possible Ventura County’s population growth would have been flat last year, but a state report notes the 1.05 increase was almost solely due to the birth of 12,000 babies.
The state Department of Finance’s annual population estimates for California and its counties showed Ventura County grew by 8,708 residents last year. As of January 1, 2009, Santa Paula’s population was 29,725. The updated population estimates for cities as of January 1, 2010 will be released by the state around April.
The Department of Finance report shows the state grew by a less than 1 percent rate, the lowest figure since the recession of the mid-1990s. The state’s population now stands at 38.5 million, a scant 400,000 up from the 38.1 million estimated last year.
The new population estimate for Ventura County is 841,101, up from 832,293 a year earlier. Ventura County was one of just 17 of the state’s 58 counties to record a growth rate of 1 percent or higher, while 11 counties lost population.
According to the report, tiny Alpine County lost 2.3 percent of its population. Like Alpine County, all of the counties with declines are located in the far northern portions of the state.
For the fifth year in a row, more people moved out of California to other U.S. states than moved in. In each of those years, however immigration from other countries more than made up for the domestic declines.
In the 2008-09 fiscal year, reportedly 179,00 foreign immigrants moved into California, while 142,000 residents moved to other states. In Ventura County, the migration figures were 3,398 foreign immigrants and 1,940 people who moved to other counties or states.
Last year there were 11,993 births in the Ventura County and 4,743 deaths, for a natural increase of 7,250. The Department of Finance accesses numerous records to estimate population data.
