NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State
University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5655
January 8, 1998
With each passing year North Dakota has fewer young people and more old people, and the average age of the population keeps going up, according to the most recent "Population Bulletin" from the State Data Center at North Dakota State University.
Between 1990 and 1996 the number of children in the state who were under 10 years old dropped by nearly 11 percent, from 97,056 to 86,478--a decline of 10,578 children in that age group.
Meanwhile, the number of people 65 and over increased from 91,094 to 93,354.
"This pattern of population change is something we need to take very seriously," said Richard Rathge, director of the Data Center. "The steep decline in youth means we will be confronted with significant enrollment losses in our schools. In addition, the loss of our children has important long-term consequences for growth and stability of our small communities. As the number of children decline in our state, so does the regenerative potential they represent.
"In short, we need to be much more aggressive in our economic development policies to retain and attract young adults. This should be a high priority in light of the fact that between 1992 and 1993 the proportion of North Dakota's population under age 10 fell below that of persons 65 and over."
Every county with the exception of Slope experienced an increase in the number of persons 85 years and older between 1990 and 1996, and in 90 percent of the counties this group grew by 10 percent or more. Every county except Rolette and Sioux showed a decline in persons younger than 5 years old. In more than half the counties this young group declined by 20 percent or more--and in 92 percent of the state's counties it declined by 10 percent or more.
At both ends of the age spectrum in 1996 North Dakota's population appeared older than the general U.S. population. The proportion of people 65 and older in North Dakota was 14.5 percent, in the U.S. 12.8 percent. The proportion under 10 years old in North Dakota was 13.4 percent, in the U.S. 14.6 percent.
Sioux County had the highest proportion of young people--24.7 percent of its population were under 10 years old--and also the lowest proportion of older people--just 5.8 percent of its population was 65 and over.
Sioux County at 24.7 percent was followed by Rolette County with 21.2 percent and Benson county with 19.6 percent of population less than 10 years old.
McIntosh was the county with the greatest proportion of people 65 and over in 1996--30.5 percent--followed by Nelson with 27.7 percent, Divide with the same, Eddy with 25.8 percent and Wells with 25.3 percent.
The five counties with the lowest proportion of population 65 and over were Sioux with 5.8 percent, Grand forks with 9.3 percent, Rolette with 9.9 percent, Cass with 10.3 percent and Burleigh with 11 percent.
[EDITORS: TO LOCALIZE, SEE BLUE PUBLICATION FOLLOWING THIS STORY, "POPULATION ESTIMATES BY AGE FOR NORTH DAKOTA BY COUNTY, 1996." THIS PUBLICATION IS ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE STATE DATA CENTER, BOX 5636, NDSU, FARGO, ND 58105.]
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Source: Karen Olson (701) 231-1060
Editor: Barry Brissman (701) 231-7866
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