Census Estimates for 2011 Show Population Growth in New York New York City gained nearly 70,000 residents in the 15 months ended July 1, 2011, almost matching the growth of the 1990s, when an influx of foreigners set annual records, according to census estimates released on Wednesday. The apparent population rebound resulted from a combination of continued immigration and higher birthrates among the newcomers, along with fewer New Yorkers leaving the city. The estimates also appeared to indicate faster growth than had been suggested by the 2010 census, which recorded gains of only 175,000 for the entire decade and a decline from 2009 population estimates. City officials insisted that the 2010 figures undercounted about 50,000 people in Brooklyn and Queens, but their challenge was rejected last week. "We are pleased that the Census Bureau has begun to recognize this growth, but we continue to believe the real population is over 8.3 million based on our demographers" scientific work and the historic track record of undercount among hard-to-enumerate populations in big cities," said Joseph J. Salvo, director of the population division in the city's Planning Department. In the estimates by the Census Bureau for July 1, 2011, the biggest gains were recorded in Brooklyn and Queens. Brooklyn had gained nearly 28,000 people since April 1, 2010, and Queens had gained more than 17,000. Those gains, combined with increases in every other borough, boosted the city's population by 69,777, to 8,244,910. Even the population of the Bronx grew at a faster rate than did the populations of Nassau or Suffolk Counties. Brooklyn was the fastest-growing borough. The city's gains accounted for 80 percent of the state's growth. Brooklyn, which is home to large numbers of Hispanic and Asian immigrants as well as Hasidic Jews, recorded the highest rate of natural increase, or births over deaths, in the state. The Bronx was second. Queens registered the highest percentage increase in foreign-born residents. The city gained more people than the counties that include Dallas, Miami and San Diego in the Sun Belt, and nearly as many as Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and has often been ranked as the fastest-growing county in the United States. The one-year gain of nearly 60,000 people, from July 1, 2010, to July 1, 2011, was higher than most annual estimates in the 2000s, and higher than the average annual increase of about 17,000 in the previous decade, comparing the 2000 and 2010 censuses. In every borough, more people left for other parts of the country than moved in, and a similar pattern was recorded in the counties that surround New York City. The Bronx recorded the biggest loss through migration (more people leaving than moving in) over all. Manhattan was the only borough that showed a gain from combined domestic and international migration. The overall population increase was due largely to higher birthrates. Over all, the population of the New York metropolitan area increased by nearly 119,000. The area ranked fourth in gains nationally, behind Dallas, Houston and Washington, and ahead of Los Angeles and Miami. "Based upon this new round of estimates, it appears that New York City has returned to quite robust growth," said Andrew A. Beveridge, a sociologist at Queens College. The demographic effects of the financial crisis may be starting to wane. City officials said the new census figures were in line with the number of apartments and houses built since April 1, 2010.