Moving ranks right up there with death and divorce as an experience most people would rather forget. Yet between 1998 and 1999, 16 percent of the population -- some 43 million Americans -- went through the trauma of uprooting their families and moving from one residence to another.

As usual, most moves were short-haul, according to the Census Bureau. Indeed, the majority of movers remained in the same county. But that probably didn't lesson the horror of it all, at least not for many folks.

Only about 20 percent moved to another county in the same state, and just 18 percent moved to a new state.

Also, only 3 percent of the movers came to the United States from abroad. But that's still about 1.4 million people. Of that total, 40 percent were White, 32 percent were Hispanic, 22 percent were Asian or Pacific Islander and 7 percent were African American.

Renters are by far the most nomadic. About one in three renters moved between March 1998 and March 1999, Census reported, compared with fewer than one in ten homeowners. With a net gain of 270,000, the South was the only region with a significant population increase as a result of internal migration between 1998 and 1999.

But the Northeast had the lowest moving rate at just 12 percent, followed by the Midwest (15 percent), the South (17 percent) and the West (19 percent)

As always, moving rates declined with age: 32 percent of people in their 20s moved during the 12-month period while only 5 percent of those 65 and over changed places.