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 the Southeast with comparisons to the Great Lakes and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing the Southeast vs. the Great Lakes' population growth over 1958-2020. 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 the Southeast's and the Great Lakes' annual population for the period 1958-2020 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 63-year period, the Southeast's population rose from 37,435,000 in 1958 to 85,565,785 in 2020, for a net gain of 48,130,785, or 128.6%. In comparison, the Great Lakes' population advanced from 35,578,000 in 1958 to 46,834,910 in 2020, for a net advance of 11,256,910, or 31.6%.

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 shows the Southeast's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with the Great Lakes, 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.

The Southeast's overall population growth was 128.6% over 1958-2020 outpaced the Great Lakes' increase of 31.6%, and topped the United States' increase of 89.2%.

Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of the Southeast and the Great Lakes is to trace their 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 they grew more slowly.

In 1958, the Southeast's population comprised 21.5% of the United States' population, while in 2020 it equated to 26.0% thereby yielding a +4.5% share-shift. Similarly, in 1958, the Great Lakes' population consisted of 20.4% of the United States' population, while in 2020 it equated to 14.2%, resulting in a -6.2% share-shift.

Figure 4 displays the short-run pattern of the Southeast's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1959-2020. The average annual percent change for the entire 62-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, the Southeast's population grew at an annual rate of 1.34% over 1959-2020. The Southeast recorded its highest growth in 1971 (2.36%) and recorded its lowest growth in 2020 (0.67%). In 2020, the Southeast's population grew by 0.67%

Over the past six decades some BEA regions 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 the Southeast's population since 1959, but this time they are overlayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010-2020.

During the 1960s, the Southeast's annual population growth rate averaged 1.32%. It averaged 1.81% throughout the 1970s, 1.23% throughout the 1980s, 1.56% throughout the 1990s, 1.27% during the 2000s, and 0.89% thus far this decade (2010 to 2020).

Figure 6 compares the decade average growth rates for the Southeast noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for the Great Lakes and the nation. As the chart reveals, the Southeast's average annual population growth registered above the Great Lakes' average during the 1960s (1.32% vs. 1.06%), outgained the Great Lakes' average during the 1970s (1.81% vs. 0.42%), outperformed the Great Lakes' average in the 1980s (1.23% vs. 0.06%), outpaced the Great Lakes' average in the 1990s (1.56% vs. 0.72%), exceeded the Great Lakes' average throughout the 2000s (1.27% vs. 0.30%), and outperformed the Great Lakes' average over the 11 year period of the last decade, 2010-2020 (0.89% vs. 0.12%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, the Southeast outgained the nation throughout the 1960s (1.32% vs. 1.29%), exceeded the nation during the 1970s (1.81% vs. 1.10%), outgained the nation throughout the 1980s (1.23% vs. 0.95%), outgained the nation over the 1990s (1.56% vs. 1.23%), led the nation throughout the 2000s (1.27% vs. 0.95%), and outgained the nation over 2010-2020 (0.89% vs. 0.68%).