Relatively high birth rate powers North Dakota's population to all-time-high of 779,261

(Fargo, ND) -- Governor Doug Burgum has big news when it comes to North Dakota's population. 

"Our state's population, you're part of this record, hit an estimated all-time-high 779,261 residents as of July 1, 2022. This rebounded from the slight dip that we saw in 2021," said Burgum. 

Burgum shared the numbers during his state of the state address Tuesday. He says the slight bump over the census count in 2020 is attributed to the state's birth rate. He says the state had 2,800 more births than deaths in the past 12 months. The governor says only Utah has a higher rate of births per capita than North Dakota.