New numbers from the U-S Census show Minnesota’s population increased by 43,000 people between 2017 and 2018–putting the total at around 5.6 million. That could help Minnesota keep its eight U-S House seats, which State Demographer Susan Brower says is good news. She says “we’ve seen very strong growth in 2017 and 2018 it certainly doesn’t mean that we’ll be able to keep that 8th Congressional District once the 2020 census comes around, but the growth that we’re seeing is kind of keeping us in the running. It’s moving us in the right direction.” On the other hand, Brower says it’s going to be close as other regions are growing faster than the Midwest and Minnesota’s moderate population growth since the last census could put the state at risk of losing a Congressional seat. Brower says the two years of growth we’ve seen here “were preceded by 15 years of losses– so it has been our history for some time to lose more people than we gain in the U-S and the last two years have turned that trend around.” Brower attributes that to a strong state economy with numerous job opportunities. Here’s more with Susan Brower: