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 Morgan County with comparisons to Indiana and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Morgan County vs. Indiana'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 Morgan County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Morgan County's population rose from 43,114 in 1969 to 72,236 in 2022, for a net gain of 29,122, or 67.55%.

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 Indiana's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Indiana's population rose from 5,143,000 in 1969 to 6,833,037 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,690,037, or 32.86%.

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

Morgan County's overall population growth was 67.55% over 1969-2022 outpaced Indiana's increase of 32.86%, and topped the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Morgan County's population comprised 0.84% of Indiana's population, while in 2022 it equated to 1.06% thereby yielding a +0.22% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Morgan 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, Morgan County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.98% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1977 (2.77%) and recorded its lowest growth in 2009 (-0.55%). In 2022, Morgan County's population declined by -0.03%

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 Morgan 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, Morgan County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.74%. It averaged 0.73% throughout the 1980s, 1.84% throughout the 1990s, 0.37% during the 2000s, 0.41% in the 2010s, 0.38% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Morgan County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Indiana and the nation. As the chart reveals, Morgan County's average annual population growth surpassed Indiana's average in the 1970s (1.74% vs. 0.63%), registered above Indiana's average during the 1980s (0.73% vs. 0.09%), outpaced Indiana's average in the 1990s (1.84% vs. 0.91%), recorded under Indiana's average during the 2000s (0.37% vs. 0.67%), recorded under Indiana's average throughout the 2010s (0.41% vs. 0.46%), and outpaced Indiana's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.38% vs. 0.35%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Morgan County registered above the nation in the 1970s (1.74% vs. 1.10%), fell under the nation over the 1980s (0.73% vs. 0.95%), outperformed the nation over the 1990s (1.84% vs. 1.23%), lagged the nation in the 2000s (0.37% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation during the 2010s (0.41% vs. 0.74%), and outperformed the nation over 2020-2022 (0.38% vs. 0.31%).