LANSING – Michigan had 10.1 million residents in 2006, about the same number it had in 2005, according to estimates released Friday by the U.S. Census Bureau. That leaves Michigan the eighth largest state, housing 3.4 percent of the nation’s population.

The report shows the state’s population beginning to level after a growth spurt from 1999-2004, when the state gained about 150,000 people.

But its growth rate is among the slowest, the Census data showed. Michigan gained only 1.6 percent more people between 2000 and 2006, leaving it 45th for population growth among the 50 states and Washington, D.C.

California held first place for total population with 36.46 million people and Texas was second with 23.5 million. The two smallest states were Washington, D.C. with 581,530 people and Wyoming with 515,004.

The fastest growth was in Nevada with 24.9 percent population increase over the last six years, followed by Arizona with 20.2 percent growth. Among those behind Michigan, North Dakota was 50th with a loss of 1 percent and Louisiana was 51st with a loss of 4.1 percent.

And said State Demographer Kenneth Darga noted that much of the estimated population loss between 2005 and 2006, about 5,000 people, is the result of incorrect birth and death calculations. The Census estimated 125,014 births in 2005, but the Department of Community Health recorded 127,518 during the year. Likewise, the Census expected 88,987 deaths during the year, but there were actually only 86,785.

“These two discrepancies might normally be of interest only to demographers, but together they account for just over 90 percent of the estimated decline in Michigan’s population from 2005 to 2006,” Darga said.

In any case, the change in population is within the margin of error, he said.

The additional births are important because the data also confirmed what many candidates argued in the last election: people are moving out of the state. But the Census and Library of Michigan data also showed it is not a new trend. Except for a small blip in 1990-91 and a slightly larger blip in 1994-95, Michigan has seen more people moving out than moving in since 1970-71.

The Census data also showed that the candidates may be wrong on the other part of their argument: jobs may not be the reason people are leaving. Among the nine areas with higher net out-migration than Michigan, Kansas, Louisiana and North Dakota all have lower unemployment rates and the remainder are within 2 percentage points of Michigan’s 6.7 percent unemployment rate. Alaska and Mississippi, the two states with higher unemployment, have lower net out-migration.

And among the Great Lakes states, only Wisconsin has net in-migration.

The state report noted that differences between highest and lowest unemployment rates have shrunk in the last decade. Michigan is currently about 4 percentage points higher than the lowest rate in the nation, compared to about 7 points in the most recent peak in 1992-93 and some 10 points in 1980-81.

“The states with the best unemployment rates have not been doing quite as well as they usually do, while the states with the worst rates are not doing as badly as usual,” Mr. Darga said. “Because of that convergence, 38 states with 86 percent of the nation’s population have unemployment rates within 3 percentage points of Michigan’s rate in 2006, based on data for the first 10 months of the year.”

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