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 Geneva County with comparisons to Alabama and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Geneva County vs. Alabama'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 Geneva County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Geneva County's population rose from 20,398 in 1969 to 26,783 in 2022, for a net gain of 6,385, or 31.30%.

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 Alabama's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Alabama's population rose from 3,440,000 in 1969 to 5,074,296 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,634,296, or 47.51%.

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

Geneva County's overall population growth was 31.30% over 1969-2022 trailed Alabama's increase of 47.51%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Geneva County's population totaled 0.59% of Alabama's population, while in 2022 it equated to 0.53% thereby yielding a -0.07% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Geneva 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 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, Geneva County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.52% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1970 (7.76%) and posted its lowest growth in 1981 (-1.19%). In 2022, Geneva County's population grew by 0.43%

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 shows the annual percent change in Geneva 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, Geneva County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.63%. It averaged -0.20% in the 1980s, 0.88% in the 1990s, 0.41% in the 2000s, -0.03% during the 2010s, 0.28% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Geneva County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Alabama and the nation. As the chart reveals, Geneva County's average annual population growth outpaced Alabama's average throughout the 1970s (1.63% vs. 1.18%), amounted to less than Alabama's average throughout the 1980s (-0.20% vs. 0.41%), trailed Alabama's average throughout the 1990s (0.88% vs. 0.95%), amounted to less than Alabama's average in the 2000s (0.41% vs. 0.72%), lagged Alabama's average in the 2010s (-0.03% vs. 0.50%), and fell below Alabama's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.28% vs. 0.47%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Geneva County led the nation during the 1970s (1.63% vs. 1.10%), trailed the nation during the 1980s (-0.20% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation in the 1990s (0.88% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation over the 2000s (0.41% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation in the 2010s (-0.03% vs. 0.74%), and trailed the nation over 2020-2022 (0.28% vs. 0.31%).