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 Wilmington MSA with comparisons to North Carolina and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing the Wilmington MSA 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 the Wilmington MSA's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, the Wilmington MSA's population rose from 99,226 in 1969 to 300,658 in 2022, for a net gain of 201,432, or 203.00%.

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 traces 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 shows the Wilmington MSA'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.

The Wilmington MSA's overall population growth was 203.00% over 1969-2022 outpaced North Carolina's increase of 112.66%, and topped the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of highlighting the population growth of the Wilmington MSA is to trace 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, the Wilmington MSA's population totaled 1.97% of North Carolina's population, while in 2022 it totaled 2.81% thereby yielding a +0.84% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of the Wilmington MSA'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 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 Wilmington MSA's population grew at an annual rate of 2.12% over 1970-2022. The Wilmington MSA posted its highest growth in 1972 (4.23%) and posted its lowest growth in 1978 (-0.44%). In 2022, the Wilmington MSA's population grew by 2.61%

Over the past five decades some msas 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 the Wilmington MSA's population since 1970, but this time they are overlayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020-2022.

During the 1970s, the Wilmington MSA's annual population growth rate averaged 2.20%. It averaged 1.72% during the 1980s, 3.15% in the 1990s, 2.37% throughout the 2000s, 1.22% in the 2010s, 1.90% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for the Wilmington MSA noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for North Carolina and the nation. As the chart reveals, the Wilmington MSA's average annual population growth recorded above North Carolina's average during the 1970s (2.20% vs. 1.44%), surpassed North Carolina's average throughout the 1980s (1.72% vs. 1.24%), registered above North Carolina's average throughout the 1990s (3.15% vs. 1.93%), led North Carolina's average in the 2000s (2.37% vs. 1.74%), exceeded North Carolina's average in the 2010s (1.22% vs. 0.93%), and outperformed North Carolina's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (1.90% vs. 1.04%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, the Wilmington MSA topped the nation throughout the 1970s (2.20% vs. 1.10%), outpaced the nation throughout the 1980s (1.72% vs. 0.95%), led the nation in the 1990s (3.15% vs. 1.23%), recorded above the nation throughout the 2000s (2.37% vs. 0.95%), outperformed the nation during the 2010s (1.22% vs. 0.74%), and outpaced the nation over 2020-2022 (1.90% vs. 0.31%).