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 West South Central with comparisons to the nation at large. 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 traces West South Central's annual population for the period 1958-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 65-year period, West South Central's population rose from 16,400,000 in 1958 to 41,685,250 in 2022, for a net gain of 25,285,250, or 154.18%.

NOTE: The 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 portrays West South Central's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with the United States. The growth indices shown here express each region's population in 1958 as a base figure of 100, and the populations in later years as a percentage of the 1958 base figure. This method allows for more direct comparison of differences in population growth between regions that may differ vastly in size.

West South Central's overall population growth was 154.18% over 1958-2022 outpaced the United States' increase of 91.38%.

Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of West South Central is to trace its individual percentage contributions to the United States' total population over time, as shown in Figure 3. A rising share means a region's population grew faster, or declined less, than the United States' population, while a declining share shows it grew more slowly.

In 1958, West South Central's population totaled 9.42% of the United States' population, while in 2022 it totaled 12.51% thereby yielding a +3.09% share-shift.

Figure 4 highlights the short-run pattern of West South Central's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1959-2022. The average annual percent change for the entire 64-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, West South Central's population grew at an annual rate of 1.47% over 1959-2022. West South Central posted its highest growth in 1982 (3.13%) and posted its lowest growth in 1988 (-0.20%). In 2022, West South Central's population grew by 1.16%

Over the past six decades some census divisions have experienced extreme swings in growth, and often such swings have tended to coincide with the decades themselves. Figure 5 again traces the annual percent change in West South Central's population since 1959, but this time they are displayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020-2022.

During the 1960s, West South Central's annual population growth rate averaged 1.38%. It averaged 1.99% during the 1970s, 1.34% during the 1980s, 1.59% throughout the 1990s, 1.45% throughout the 2000s, 1.20% throughout the 2010s, 0.99% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 6 compares the decade average growth rates for West South Central noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for the nation.

Relative to nationwide population growth trends, West South Central outperformed the nation in the 1960s (1.38% vs. 1.29%), outgained the nation in the 1970s (1.99% vs. 1.10%), outpaced the nation during the 1980s (1.34% vs. 0.95%), outpaced the nation in the 1990s (1.59% vs. 1.23%), exceeded the nation over the 2000s (1.45% vs. 0.95%), outgained the nation during the 2010s (1.20% vs. 0.74%), and registered above the nation over 2020-2022 (0.99% vs. 0.31%).