The Pew Charitable Trusts has released an insightful report on American population growth patterns, which holds significant implications for New Mexico and its policymakers.
According to the report, New Mexico’s population growth has been notably sluggish since 2008, trailing behind the national average.
New Mexico’s growth rate has been at 0.34 percent since 2008, while states such as Arizona had a 1.13 percent growth rate and Colorado had 1.23 percent growth. New Mexico’s neighboring state of Texas, albeit classified as a southern state, saw 1.52 percent growth.
More strikingly, when examining a 15-year span, New Mexico’s growth lags behind every state west of Kansas.
The most concerning projection from Pew is that by 2040, New Mexico is expected to experience a net population decline. Between 2030 and 2040, New Mexico’s population is projected to be -0.03 percent, declining the most among younger people ages 20-24, with a -0.27 percent rate.
“In the 2020s, New Mexico is one of the 25 states with projected decreases in population of 25-to-64-year-olds and younger. And in the 2030s, New Mexico is one of the 40 states with a projected increase,” Pew noted.
On a national scale, The Pew Center wrote, “According to the center’s projections, growth is likely to remain tepid through 2040 with the national population forecasted to grow at about the same pace from 2020 to 2030 as the prior decade—already the slowest on record—before dropping to new lows from 2030 to 2040. In the 2020s, 31 states may face population slowdowns compared with the previous decade, and the number climbs to 45 in the next decade. The Census Bureau also projects that nationally, population growth will remain moderate at best and largely attributes that forecast to declining fertility rates combined with rising death rates as baby boomers age.”
While it is not the only state anticipated to see a population decrease, it stands out as the only state west of the Mississippi River with such a forecast.
However, this future is not inevitable. New Mexico has the potential to leverage its oil and gas revenues to implement much-needed policy reforms, as noted by the Rio Grande Foundation’s Errors of Enchantment. Such changes would require proactive measures from the state legislature.
Who would want to move to communist country? With a so called governor who is ungodly and celebrates murdering babies in the womb up to birth! Where the education is at the bottom of stats, etc, etc…
Shocked, not shocked…we are number 50 or number 1 in all the bad areas with a government determined to keep us there….. I’m done, just like many others are which is why we have declining population here in NM.
And there we have it: NM will never change. Why? Because retiree priorities are different than that of young families. Now is the time to change the direction of NM if it’s going to be changed at all. So sad.
NM will never change because it has become a youthful welfare state. No corporations want to move here because of crime and criminals on the lose, gross receipt taxes, lousy work ethics, affordable housing issues (in some areas), lousiest education system, lousy service industry, poor medical system, federal money ties, increasing regulation imposition on farming and ranching and private businesses … demo run.
If women would quit having abortions maybe our population would grow, with more married people not having kids our population cannot grow, so what to do? Stop abortions and married couples start having babies!
My thoughts.
did you know most of the abortions are performed on married women who just dont want any more kids…..
And your response, even if it were true, in no way negates Allison’t comment.
Back in the 1980’s, lot of young people bc of great oil businesses . Now MTG took it all away. Bring God back. Fire Steve Pearce as well.
My family settled in territorial NM in 1908. I lived in NM my entire life. Was recently blessed with being able to move away. It grieves me to watch the dumpster fire that is NM.
Maybe low population growth is good as an old saying goes ” No place ever got better by adding more people.” ????
For me this is alright, have practiced living 3rd world for decades. less people, less problems,more space, more personal freedom, less progressives costing all of us more.
I agree with all but Mike 2. Lives in 3rd world countries, not sure that has anything to do with it. I currently want to move out but have done too much with our property to start over. Our county assessor stated he will raise our property taxes every year to the max. So now we pay a little over 100 a month, but in 10 years we will pay well over 300. I can guarantee our fixed income will not match the increase. Now add we are the worst in almost ever favorable measurement. We are now looking for greener pastures. Unless the NM government does things for folks that make over 6 figures to make NM appealing we will move. Why stay, the weather is not worth living in a Marxist state.
Get rid of the politicians that raise the taxes, get rid of the politicians that make the laws that the New Mexicans do not want. Get rid of the politicians that create mandates that are not a law. I can say more but will stop. Give it all back to We the People if New Mexico. We have not had a say so in YEARS!
It’s incredibly sad that years of communist policies have turned a once promising state to crap. NM was once a thriving state with a future and great potential but since the communist junta clique took over it has regressed to third world status. NM should be a lesson for surrounding states that are not yet infected with Marxism on what to avoid if you don’t want to become a lawless poverty stricken banana republic!