INDIANA UPDATE:

INDIANA'S POPULATION INCREASING IN RURAL AREAS, IU REPORT SAYS

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Anyone driving state and county roads in Indiana is aware of a trend that the latest population estimates from the U.S. Bureau of the Census indicate -- rural increases are dominating the growth of many counties in the Hoosier state.

That's the finding of a report in the January issue of Indiana Business Review Update, a monthly publication of the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.

The population estimates were released late last year and analyzed by the center, which serves as the state's official liaison with the U.S. Census Bureau. The center's present and future role is to work with the state and its localities to provide a full and accurate census count in the year 2000.

While cities, towns and other incorporated places grew in population by 3 percent between 1990 and 1996, rural or unincorporated areas experienced growth of 9.3 percent.

Overall, Indiana gained 296,372 persons -- a 5.3 percent increase -- but nearly two-thirds of that population growth, or 64 percent, was in rural areas. In 60 of Indiana's 92 counties, the urban populations grew, but rural populations grew in 89 counties.

"The advances of rural areas in the 1990s follow a long-term pattern of suburbanization which today some feel is threatening the economic and social viability of both our communities and our rural areas," observed Morton J. Marcus, the center's director.

In nine counties that went against this state trend, annexation, strong zoning and land use controls have been in place. This may explain why those counties -- Boone, Decatur, Hamilton, Johnson, Marshall, Monroe, Porter, Steuben and Wells -- all added more people in their urban areas than in their rural sections.

In 49 counties, both urban and rural areas grew in population, although most of those increases were in rural sections. In 27 counties, rural growth actually offset declines in urban growth so that they posted increases in their population estimates.

"It should be noted that the data presented here are the numeric, not the percentage increases, in population," Marcus said. "In 78 of the 92 counties, rural areas grew faster -- that is, had higher percentage increases than urban areas. The more rapid growth can be trivial when the population involved is small.

"It is more important to look, as we have here, at the actual size of the change."

It also is important to note that these population figures are estimates produced by using a demographic model and are not the result of a direct attempt to count population, as is done in a census year. The estimates were produced by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, using the Tax Return Method.

Population data pertaining to the state, its counties and its cities is available at the IBRC Web site.

(George Vlahakis, Office of Communications and Marketing, 812-855-0846 or 812-855-3911, gvlahaki@indiana.edu)

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