Kentucky remains the 26th largest state by population, based on newly released census data that shows an increase in residents of 0.4 percent from last year.
The Kentucky State Data Center at the University of Louisville said in a news release that new estimates from the Census Bureau show the state's resident population was 4,454,189 as of July 1. The number is a 2.6 percent increase from the 2010 census.
The center said people age 65 and older account for all of the state's population growth since 2010. That group has grown 23 percent since the 2010 census, while the number of people younger than 65 has declined.
There were 1,010,539 Kentuckians under the age of 18 in 2017, the smallest number since 2005.
