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 Sussex County with comparisons to Delaware and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Sussex County vs. Delaware'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 Sussex County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Sussex County's population rose from 79,614 in 1969 to 255,956 in 2022, for a net gain of 176,342, or 221.50%.

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 traces Delaware's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Delaware's population rose from 540,000 in 1969 to 1,018,396 in 2022, for a net gain of 478,396, or 88.59%.

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 shows Sussex County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Delaware, 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.

Sussex County's overall population growth was 221.50% over 1969-2022 outpaced Delaware's increase of 88.59%, and topped the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Sussex County's population comprised 14.74% of Delaware's population, while in 2022 it comprised 25.13% thereby yielding a +10.39% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Sussex County'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, Sussex County's population grew at an annual rate of 2.23% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1971 (3.83%) and posted its lowest growth in 1982 (0.12%). In 2022, Sussex County's population grew by 3.32%

Over the past five decades some counties have experienced extreme swings in growth, and often such swings have tended to coincide with the decades themselves. Figure 6 again illustrates the annual percent change in Sussex County'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, Sussex County's annual population growth rate averaged 2.05%. It averaged 1.35% throughout the 1980s, 3.24% during the 1990s, 2.42% during the 2000s, 1.80% throughout the 2010s, 3.21% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Sussex County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Delaware and the nation. As the chart reveals, Sussex County's average annual population growth recorded above Delaware's average throughout the 1970s (2.05% vs. 1.04%), recorded above Delaware's average during the 1980s (1.35% vs. 0.95%), led Delaware's average during the 1990s (3.24% vs. 1.65%), outgained Delaware's average during the 2000s (2.42% vs. 1.41%), topped Delaware's average during the 2010s (1.80% vs. 0.96%), and outgained Delaware's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (3.21% vs. 1.24%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Sussex County registered above the nation over the 1970s (2.05% vs. 1.10%), outpaced the nation over the 1980s (1.35% vs. 0.95%), topped the nation throughout the 1990s (3.24% vs. 1.23%), surpassed the nation throughout the 2000s (2.42% vs. 0.95%), outpaced the nation during the 2010s (1.80% vs. 0.74%), and registered above the nation over 2020-2022 (3.21% vs. 0.31%).