Rural Areas Show Overall Population Decline and Shifting Regional Patterns of Population Change

While natural change has gradually trended downward over time, net migration rates tend to fluctuate in response to economic conditions. Since 2010, the increase in rural population from natural change (270,000 more births than deaths) has not matched the decrease in population from net migration (4...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmber waves no. 8
Main Author Cromartie, John
Format Magazine Article Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington Superintendent of Documents 01.09.2017
Edition1490
Subjects
Agricultural economics
Birth rate
Births
Coastal plains
Community/Rural/Urban Development
Demographic change
Migration
nonmetro counties
Petroleum production
population
Population decline
Population growth
regional patterns
Regions
rural
Rural areas
Rural population
Studies
Trends
Great Plains
Alabama
United States > US
Appalachia
Maine
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Summary:While natural change has gradually trended downward over time, net migration rates tend to fluctuate in response to economic conditions. Since 2010, the increase in rural population from natural change (270,000 more births than deaths) has not matched the decrease in population from net migration (462,000 more people moved out than moved in). Rapid growth was also concentrated in recreation areas with attractive scenery and retirement destinations, such as throughout the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Coast regions, in the Ozarks and southern Appalachia, and in Florida. Even if temporary, this small but historic shift to overall population loss highlights a growing demographic challenge facing many regions across rural and small-town America: population growth from natural increase is no longer large enough to counter cyclical net migration losses.
Bibliography:content type line 24
ObjectType-Feature-1
SourceType-Magazines-1
ISSN:1545-8741
1545-875X
DOI:10.22004/ag.econ.265963