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 West Carroll Parish with comparisons to Louisiana and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing West Carroll Parish vs. Louisiana'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 West Carroll Parish's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, West Carroll Parish's population dropped from 13,114 in 1969 to 9,481 in 2022, for a net loss of -3,633, or -27.70%.

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 Louisiana's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Louisiana's population rose from 3,619,000 in 1969 to 4,588,023 in 2022, for a net gain of 969,023, or 26.78%.

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 West Carroll Parish's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Louisiana, 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.

West Carroll Parish's overall population growth was -27.70% over 1969-2022 trailed Louisiana's increase of 26.78%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.56%.

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

In 1969, West Carroll Parish's population comprised 0.36% of Louisiana's population, while in 2022 it comprised 0.21% thereby yielding a -0.16% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of West Carroll Parish'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, West Carroll Parish's population contracted at an annual rate of -0.60% over 1970-2022. The parish recorded its highest growth in 1996 (2.07%) and recorded its lowest growth in 2020 (-3.27%). In 2022, West Carroll Parish's population declined by -1.06%

Over the past five decades some parishes 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 West Carroll Parish'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, West Carroll Parish's annual population growth rate averaged -0.10%. It averaged -0.66% in the 1980s, 0.20% during the 1990s, -0.61% throughout the 2000s, -1.47% in the 2010s, -1.83% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for West Carroll Parish noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Louisiana and the nation. As the chart reveals, West Carroll Parish's average annual population growth posted below Louisiana's average throughout the 1970s (-0.10% vs. 1.35%), trailed Louisiana's average in the 1980s (-0.66% vs. 0.28%), amounted to less than Louisiana's average in the 1990s (0.20% vs. 0.48%), lagged Louisiana's average throughout the 2000s (-0.61% vs. 0.09%), amounted to less than Louisiana's average during the 2010s (-1.47% vs. 0.38%), and amounted to less than Louisiana's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-1.83% vs. -0.55%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, West Carroll Parish lagged the nation over the 1970s (-0.10% vs. 1.10%), recorded underneath the nation in the 1980s (-0.66% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation throughout the 1990s (0.20% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation during the 2000s (-0.61% vs. 0.95%), posted below the nation over the 2010s (-1.47% vs. 0.74%), and trailed the nation over 2020-2022 (-1.83% vs. 0.31%).