LANSING, Mich. (MIRS News) – More people have died in Michigan than were born in 2020 and 2021 causing a negative birth rate for the state for the first time since the collection of such data began in 1900.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the state in 2020 and since that time 40,767 people have died of the virus. The extra deaths were enough to push the total deaths in Michigan to 117,087 in 2020, and 117,756 in 2021, according to Michigan Department of Health and Human Services data.

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There were 104,149 children born in 2020, and 105,022 in 2021, which has caused a reduction of the Michigan population from 10,077,331 in 2020, to 10,050,811 in 2021.

The last time Michigan’s population didn’t grow was during World War II when the population was reduced by 161,527 people from 1942 as solders left, and the population remained at 5,377,329 in 1943 and 1944. However, the number of deaths in 1943, which was the height of the war, at 56,774 did not outpace the births at 125,441.

MDHHS officials announced Tuesday that 110 people had died of COVID-19 complications and another 10,927 people had caught the virus over the week of Christmas and Hanukkah, which ended Dec. 26.

Other than COVID-19, heart disease was the biggest cause of death for 2020 and 2021, with the number of cases rising to 27,090 during the lockdowns of 2020, and falling to 26,651 in 2021. All forms of cancer also remained high with 21,118 deaths in 2020, and 21,221 in 2021.

The negative birth rate has also caused a drop in the life expectancy age for Michiganders, with men in Michigan sitting at 72.8 and women at 78.8. The last time the life expectancy was this low in the state was 1992.

The top baby names in 2022 for boys were Asher, Theodore, Oliver, Noah and Henry. For girls, it was Aurora, Violet, Charlotte, Amelia or Emilia and Hazel.