How to get more population

[Twotribes]

My cities are all at least level III and I have two level IV. I have food and power but I am not getting a lot of new people. Right now I am not losing a lot either but still how do I get more people? When I use colonists the next turn a bunch die or leave.

[zgrssd]

The primary source for new people are conquest and free people being attracted to your cities.
Player civilisations in general and high Civilisation ones in particular have abysmal growth rates.

If you want to increase the capitol size, not upgrading the other cities as high as it seems to help.
ALso if you gather recruits, you can "disband" them to become people in the SHQ's city instead. Wich can help you get people into your Capitol. And it is usually a good idea to focus population and production there.
Only settlers can be send wherever you want.

[DasTactic]

From my understanding city level has nothing to do with attracting new civilians. City level is basically just a limit on what you can build and the higher the level the more difficult it is to maintain QOL, Civilisation level and happiness (which makes the city less attractive). So I only up the level if I need a better building no matter how many people are living there.

To move people between cities they need to be incorporated and then you need to build Colonists (like Recruits) to send to other zones.

[zgrssd]

ORIGINAL: DasTactic

From my understanding city level has nothing to do with attracting new civilians. City level is basically just a limit on what you can build and the higher the level the more difficult it is to maintain QOL, Civilisation level and happiness (which makes the city less attractive). So I only up the level if I need a better building no matter how many people are living there.

To move people between cities they need to be incorporated and then you need to build Colonists (like Recruits) to send to other zones.

I feel the need to clear up that QOL = Happiness myth:
While it is true that Civilisation Growth and Civilisation Decay modify the happiness, this is not a long lasting process. Things will stabilize sooner rather then later.

As Civilisation <= 10 ruins your Militiancy, I try to keep my cities below that. And upgrading the city to further dilute the QOL building effects can really help with that.