FINANCIAL TIMES: …An analysis of US Census Bureau data by the Department of Agriculture found that although population growth in America’s rural heartland has risen and fallen for decades with changes in the US economy, the pace of decline accelerated in the years 2010-2012. And for the first time, the so-called “natural increase” in population – total births minus deaths – was insufficient to offset the loss from those migrating away.
The net loss of population represents a natural increase of 135,000 offset by a larger loss from out-migration of 179,000, a drop of 0.9 per cent…
Moreover, so-called exurban areas, which have grown rapidly for decades as cities sprawled, also declined in population for the first time during the 2010-12 period. The rate of decline was marginal, but considerable in the context of the years 2004-06 when exurbs added roughly 500,000 to their population… (more)
