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 Mississippi County with comparisons to Arkansas and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Mississippi County vs. Arkansas' 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 Mississippi County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Mississippi County's population dropped from 63,012 in 1969 to 38,896 in 2022, for a net loss of -24,116, or -38.27%.

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 Arkansas' annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Arkansas' population rose from 1,913,000 in 1969 to 3,045,637 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,132,637, or 59.21%.

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 Mississippi County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Arkansas, 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.

Mississippi County's overall population growth was -38.27% over 1969-2022 trailed Arkansas' increase of 59.21%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Mississippi County's population totaled 3.29% of Arkansas' population, while in 2022 it totaled 1.28% thereby yielding a -2.02% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Mississippi 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, Mississippi County's population contracted at an annual rate of -0.90% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1975 (3.05%) and posted its lowest growth in 1993 (-6.68%). In 2022, Mississippi County's population declined by -1.72%

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 traces the annual percent change in Mississippi County'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, Mississippi County's annual population growth rate averaged -0.40%. It averaged -0.45% throughout the 1980s, -1.02% throughout the 1990s, -1.04% during the 2000s, -1.30% during the 2010s, -1.83% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Mississippi County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Arkansas and the nation. As the chart reveals, Mississippi County's average annual population growth lagged Arkansas' average during the 1970s (-0.40% vs. 1.72%), amounted to less than Arkansas' average in the 1980s (-0.45% vs. 0.34%), recorded under Arkansas' average in the 1990s (-1.02% vs. 1.23%), amounted to less than Arkansas' average during the 2000s (-1.04% vs. 0.89%), fell below Arkansas' average throughout the 2010s (-1.30% vs. 0.36%), and trailed Arkansas' average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-1.83% vs. 0.46%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Mississippi County lagged the nation during the 1970s (-0.40% vs. 1.10%), fell below the nation during the 1980s (-0.45% vs. 0.95%), lagged the nation during the 1990s (-1.02% vs. 1.23%), recorded underneath the nation over the 2000s (-1.04% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation throughout the 2010s (-1.30% vs. 0.74%), and lagged the nation over 2020-2022 (-1.83% vs. 0.31%).