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 Southeast with comparisons to Great Lakes and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Southeast vs. Great Lakes' population growth over 1958-2015. 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 Southeast's and Great Lakes' annual population for the period 1958-2015 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 58-year period, Southeast's population rose from 37,435,000 in 1958 to 82,177,832 in 2015, for a net gain of 44,742,832, or 119.5%. In comparison, Great Lakes' population advanced from 35,578,000 in 1958 to 46,787,011 in 2015, for a net gain of 11,209,011, or 31.5%.

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 Southeast's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with 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.

Southeast's overall population growth was 119.5% over 1958-2015 outpaced Great Lakes' increase of 31.5%, and outpaced the United States' increase of 84.6%.

Another interesting and insightful way of highlighting the population growth of Southeast and Great Lakes is to compare 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, Southeast's population comprised 21.5% of the United States' population, while in 2015 it comprised 25.6% thereby yielding a +4.1% share-shift. Similarly, in 1958, Great Lakes' population consisted of 20.4% of the United States' population, while in 2015 it equated to 14.6%, resulting in a -5.9% share-shift.

Figure 4 highlights the short-run pattern of Southeast's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1959-2015. The average annual percent change for the entire 57-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, Southeast's population grew at an annual rate of 1.39% over 1959-2015. Southeast posted its highest growth in 1971 (2.36%) and posted its lowest growth in 2013 (0.80%). In 2015, Southeast's population grew by 1.00%

Over the past five 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 depicts the annual percent change in 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 2010-2015.

During the 1960s, Southeast's annual population growth rate averaged 1.32%. It averaged 1.81% during the 1970s, 1.23% throughout the 1980s, 1.56% throughout the 1990s, 1.27% during the 2000s, and 0.91% thus far this decade (2010 to 2015).

Figure 6 compares the decade average growth rates for Southeast noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Great Lakes and the nation. As the chart reveals, Southeast's average annual population growth outperformed Great Lakes' average in the 1960s (1.32% vs. 1.06%), recorded above Great Lakes' average during the 1970s (1.81% vs. 0.42%), exceeded Great Lakes' average throughout the 1980s (1.23% vs. 0.06%), surpassed Great Lakes' average throughout the 1990s (1.56% vs. 0.72%), registered above Great Lakes' average throughout the 2000s (1.27% vs. 0.30%), and registered above Great Lakes' average over the 6 year period of the last decade, 2010-2015 (0.91% vs. 0.15%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Southeast led the nation in the 1960s (1.32% vs. 1.29%), recorded above the nation over the 1970s (1.81% vs. 1.10%), registered above the nation over the 1980s (1.23% vs. 0.95%), outperformed the nation in the 1990s (1.56% vs. 1.23%), outgained the nation over the 2000s (1.27% vs. 0.95%), and outperformed the nation over 2010-2015 (0.91% vs. 0.78%).