Pearl River County vs. Mississippi Comparative Trends Analysis: Population Growth and Change, 1969-2022 Introduction Pearl River County: 2022 Population = 57,261 2022 Percent of State = 1.95% Mississippi: 2022 Population = 2,940,057 2022 Percent of U.S. = 0.88% 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 Pearl River County with comparisons to Mississippi and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Pearl River 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. Population, 1969-2022 Figure 1. Figure 1 tracks Pearl River County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Pearl River County's population rose from 27,393 in 1969 to 57,261 in 2022, for a net gain of 29,868, or 109.04%. 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. Population, 1969-2022 Figure 2. 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. Population Indices (1969=100): 1969-2022 Figure 3. Figure 3 portrays Pearl River 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. Pearl River County's overall population growth was 109.04% over 1969-2022 outpaced Mississippi's increase of 32.44%, and topped the United States' increase of 65.57%. Population as a Percent of the Mississippi Total: 1969-2022 Figure 4. Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of Pearl River 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, Pearl River County's population totaled 1.23% of Mississippi's population, while in 2022 it equated to 1.95% thereby yielding a +0.71% share-shift.
Pearl River County Population: Annual Percent Change, 1970-2022 Figure 5. Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Pearl River 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 illustrated 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, Pearl River County's population grew at an annual rate of 1.41% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 2006 (8.16%) and posted its lowest growth in 2009 (-0.80%). In 2022, Pearl River County's population grew by 1.34% Pearl River County Population: Annual Percent Change and Decade Averages Over 1970-2022 Figure 6. 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 depicts the annual percent change in Pearl River 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, Pearl River County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.95%. It averaged 1.51% during the 1980s, 2.23% during the 1990s, 1.57% during the 2000s, -0.02% in the 2010s, 0.75% thus far this decade (2020-2022). Population Growth: Average Annual Percent Change by Decade Figure 7. Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Pearl River County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Mississippi and the nation. As the chart reveals, Pearl River County's average annual population growth registered above Mississippi's average during the 1970s (1.95% vs. 1.23%), recorded above Mississippi's average throughout the 1980s (1.51% vs. 0.26%), led Mississippi's average throughout the 1990s (2.23% vs. 0.95%), outpaced Mississippi's average in the 2000s (1.57% vs. 0.45%), posted below Mississippi's average in the 2010s (-0.02% vs. 0.03%), and outperformed Mississippi's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.75% vs. -0.33%). Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Pearl River County outgained the nation in the 1970s (1.95% vs. 1.10%), outpaced the nation in the 1980s (1.51% vs. 0.95%), exceeded the nation over the 1990s (2.23% vs. 1.23%), registered above the nation throughout the 2000s (1.57% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation over the 2010s (-0.02% vs. 0.74%), and outperformed the nation over 2020-2022 (0.75% vs. 0.31%).
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