Articles

State Adds 500,000 People In 3 Years, Census Says

Jeffry Scott, AJC Staff
March 9, 2004

Georgia's population has grown by about half a million people in the past three years, making the state the fourth fastest-growing in the nation behind California, Texas and Florida, the U.S. Census Bureau says.

That population boom contributes to traffic and strains water supplies, but there's also a good economic indicator hidden in the big increase of Georgia residents, said a state demographer.

Census figures released today show the age group driving Georgia's population boom are people 44 and younger.

And that means they came here to work, said Robert Giacomini of the Georgia Office of Planning and Budget.

"Job growth here has been stronger than in many other states," Giacomini said. "Atlanta especially has become a magnet because of the economic potential."

Although many of the new residents are from smaller cities in other Southern states, said Giacomini, about half of them come from other countries.

"That's a big change," said the statistician. "I would estimate that in 1990, only 20 percent of Georgia's migration were internationals."

Georgia, with 8,684,715 people, is now the ninth most populous state, according to the census.

The U.S. population is 290,809,777. The most populous state is California with 35.484,453 people; the least populous is Wyoming with 501,242.

Georgia has the fifth fastest-growing population of children younger than 5; the seventh fastest-growing population of children ages 5 to 13; and the ninth fastest-growing population between ages 14 and 17.

Georgia ranks 31st in the growth of the number of people 18 to 24, but fourth in growth of those 15 to 44.

Georgia ranks No. 6 in growth of population of people 65 and older.

In the three-year period measured by the census, 41,226 retirement age people moved to the state.

Reprinted with permission from The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. Further reproduction, retransmission or distribution of these materials without the prior written consent of The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution, and any copyright holder identified in the material's copyright notice, is prohibited.