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 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA with comparisons to Michigan and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA vs. Michigan'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 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA's population dropped from 4,414,928 in 1969 to 4,345,761 in 2022, for a net loss of -69,167, or -1.57%.

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 Michigan's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Michigan's population rose from 8,781,000 in 1969 to 10,034,113 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,253,113, or 14.27%.

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 3 shows the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Michigan, 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 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA's overall population growth was -1.57% over 1969-2022 trailed Michigan's increase of 14.27%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA's population totaled 50.28% of Michigan's population, while in 2022 it equated to 43.31% thereby yielding a -6.97% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn 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 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA's population contracted at an annual rate of -0.03% over 1970-2022. The Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA recorded its highest growth in 1991 (0.82%) and posted its lowest growth in 1981 (-1.48%). In 2022, the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA's population declined by -0.48%

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 illustrates the annual percent change in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA'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, the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA's annual population growth rate averaged -0.13%. It averaged -0.27% during the 1980s, 0.48% throughout the 1990s, -0.31% during the 2000s, 0.19% during the 2010s, -0.37% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Michigan and the nation. As the chart reveals, the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA's average annual population growth posted below Michigan's average throughout the 1970s (-0.13% vs. 0.52%), trailed Michigan's average during the 1980s (-0.27% vs. 0.01%), recorded under Michigan's average during the 1990s (0.48% vs. 0.68%), recorded under Michigan's average throughout the 2000s (-0.31% vs. 0.01%), recorded above Michigan's average throughout the 2010s (0.19% vs. 0.18%), and trailed Michigan's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.37% vs. -0.15%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA fell below the nation throughout the 1970s (-0.13% vs. 1.10%), posted below the nation during the 1980s (-0.27% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation in the 1990s (0.48% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation in the 2000s (-0.31% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation during the 2010s (0.19% vs. 0.74%), and recorded underneath the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.37% vs. 0.31%).