Census director Robert Groves says the South and West continued their strong population growth over the last decade.

The total national count was 308,745,538, representing the slowest growth over the last decade since the Great Depression.

Groves spoke at a briefing announcing 2010 census results. He says the South had the fastest growth since 2000, at 14.3 percent. The West was close behind at 13.8 percent.

The Northeast had 3.2 percent growth while the Midwest had 3.9 percent.

The state with the largest population growth was Nevada with 35.1 percent. Michigan was the only state with a decline, at 0.6 percent.