Attracting and retaining people to live, work, raise a family, and retire underlies the economic vitality of any region. Population growth is both a cause--and a consequence--of economic growth. Patterns of population growth and change reflect differences among regions to attract and retain people both as producers and consumers in their economy.

The following graphs offer a broad overview of trends in the pattern of population growth and change of Leake County with comparisons to Mississippi and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Leake County vs. Mississippi's population growth over 1969-2022. The data used are those compiled by the Regional Income and Product Divisions of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.

Figure 1 tracks Leake County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Leake County's population rose from 17,312 in 1969 to 21,135 in 2022, for a net gain of 3,823, or 22.08%.

NOTE: The county and state population totals reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) are from the Bureau of Census midyear (July 1) estimates. These estimates may differ from those prepared independently in some states by various agencies and/or universities.

Figure 2 tracks Mississippi's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Mississippi's population rose from 2,220,000 in 1969 to 2,940,057 in 2022, for a net gain of 720,057, or 32.44%.

NOTE: The county and state population totals reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) are from the Bureau of Census midyear (July 1) estimates. These estimates may differ from those prepared independently in some states by various agencies and/or universities.

Figure 3 portrays Leake County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Mississippi, the United States. The growth indices shown here express each region's population in 1969 as a base figure of 100, and the populations in later years as a percentage of the 1969 base figure. This method allows for more direct comparison of differences in population growth between regions that may differ vastly in size.

Leake County's overall population growth was 22.08% over 1969-2022 trailed Mississippi's increase of 32.44%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of comparing the population growth of Leake County is to compare its individual percentage contributions to Mississippi's statewide population over time, as shown in Figure 4. A rising share means a region's population grew faster, or declined less, than Mississippi's population, while a declining share shows it grew more slowly.

In 1969, Leake County's population comprised 0.78% of Mississippi's population, while in 2022 it equated to 0.72% thereby yielding a -0.06% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Leake County's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1970-2022. The average annual percent change for the entire 53-year period is also traced on this chart to provide a benchmark for gauging periods of relative high--and relative low--growth against the backdrop of the long-term average.

On average, Leake County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.39% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1971 (4.14%) and recorded its lowest growth in 2011 (-2.66%). In 2022, Leake County's population declined by -0.53%

Over the past five decades some counties have experienced extreme swings in growth, and often such swings have tended to coincide with the decades themselves. Figure 6 again shows the annual percent change in Leake County's population since 1970, but this time they are displayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020-2022.

During the 1970s, Leake County's annual population growth rate averaged 0.87%. It averaged -0.25% in the 1980s, 1.25% during the 1990s, 1.35% throughout the 2000s, -1.02% during the 2010s, -0.52% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Leake County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Mississippi and the nation. As the chart reveals, Leake County's average annual population growth trailed Mississippi's average throughout the 1970s (0.87% vs. 1.23%), amounted to less than Mississippi's average in the 1980s (-0.25% vs. 0.26%), registered above Mississippi's average in the 1990s (1.25% vs. 0.95%), surpassed Mississippi's average throughout the 2000s (1.35% vs. 0.45%), posted below Mississippi's average during the 2010s (-1.02% vs. 0.03%), and fell below Mississippi's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.52% vs. -0.33%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Leake County fell below the nation throughout the 1970s (0.87% vs. 1.10%), recorded underneath the nation throughout the 1980s (-0.25% vs. 0.95%), outgained the nation in the 1990s (1.25% vs. 1.23%), exceeded the nation during the 2000s (1.35% vs. 0.95%), trailed the nation over the 2010s (-1.02% vs. 0.74%), and recorded underneath the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.52% vs. 0.31%).