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 Perquimans County with comparisons to North Carolina and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Perquimans County vs. North Carolina'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.

Figure 1 traces Perquimans County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Perquimans County's population rose from 8,507 in 1969 to 13,210 in 2022, for a net gain of 4,703, or 55.28%.

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.

Figure 2 tracks North Carolina's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, North Carolina's population rose from 5,031,000 in 1969 to 10,698,973 in 2022, for a net gain of 5,667,973, or 112.66%.

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.

Figure 3 portrays Perquimans County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with North Carolina, 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.

Perquimans County's overall population growth was 55.28% over 1969-2022 trailed North Carolina's increase of 112.66%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of Perquimans County is to compare its individual percentage contributions to North Carolina's statewide population over time, as shown in Figure 4. A rising share means a region's population grew faster, or declined less, than North Carolina's population, while a declining share shows it grew more slowly.

In 1969, Perquimans County's population comprised 0.17% of North Carolina's population, while in 2022 it equated to 0.12% thereby yielding a -0.05% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Perquimans 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 traced 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, Perquimans County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.85% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1975 (7.99%) and posted its lowest growth in 1976 (-3.76%). In 2022, Perquimans County's population grew by 0.64%

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 Perquimans 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, Perquimans County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.14%. It averaged 0.98% throughout the 1980s, 0.73% during the 1990s, 1.69% throughout the 2000s, -0.22% in the 2010s, 0.60% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Perquimans County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for North Carolina and the nation. As the chart reveals, Perquimans County's average annual population growth recorded under North Carolina's average in the 1970s (1.14% vs. 1.44%), posted below North Carolina's average throughout the 1980s (0.98% vs. 1.24%), trailed North Carolina's average in the 1990s (0.73% vs. 1.93%), recorded under North Carolina's average in the 2000s (1.69% vs. 1.74%), fell below North Carolina's average throughout the 2010s (-0.22% vs. 0.93%), and amounted to less than North Carolina's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.60% vs. 1.04%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Perquimans County led the nation during the 1970s (1.14% vs. 1.10%), topped the nation over the 1980s (0.98% vs. 0.95%), trailed the nation in the 1990s (0.73% vs. 1.23%), registered above the nation throughout the 2000s (1.69% vs. 0.95%), trailed the nation in the 2010s (-0.22% vs. 0.74%), and recorded above the nation over 2020-2022 (0.60% vs. 0.31%).