The Farmville Herald And Farmer Leader

Population Shifting
The Census Bureau reported recently that nine of the forty-eight states lost population between April, 1950 and July 1st, 1952.
The country, as a whole, experienced a national population increase for the twenty-seven month period of 3.4 per cent.
This rate of increase amounts to an annual increase of almost a million and a half inhabitants. This rate of increase is obviously a healthy one, reflecting the fact that in states where the population declined, the primary reason was an exodus of inhabitants to other states.
In this connection, the largest population increase made by any state was registered by California, which gained 804,000 inhabitants in the twenty-seven month period. Texas came next with a gain of 477,000, while New York was third with 348,000. Michigan and Florida both gained over 300,000, although the states of Florida, Arizona and Nevada led in percentage increases, each state gaining over ten per cent.
Of the nine states which lost population, six were in the South. They were Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, West Virginia, Maine, Vermont and North Dakota. Alabama's loss was the greatest, percentage-wise and is estimated at four per cent. Mississippi's loss is estimated at three per cent; Maine's at 3.3 per cent and North Dakota's loss at 3.2 per cent -the highest percentage losses among the states losing population.