Ind. Population To Reach 7.5M By 2050

(Undated) - Indiana’s population is likely to grow by one million people by the year 2050.

A study by the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University bases its projections on data from the 2010 U.S. Census. With the 15 percent increase projected over the next 40 years, the state population would then total 7.5 million.

The study reveals other interesting aspects of Indiana’s population growth.

One in every three Hoosiers would live in the Indianapolis area. Hamilton County, north of Marion County, will be the state’s fastest-growing county, doubling to 548,000 residents by 2050.

Meanwhile, 49 of Indiana's 92 counties are forecast to lose population. Those counties are largely in rural areas.

Each of the counties in the local five-county southeast Indiana region would see population growth. Populations in Dearborn, Ripley, and Switzerland counties are expected to increase by more than ten percent by 2050. Ohio and Franklin counties would see growth of between 5.1 and ten percent.

The largest factor for population increases in Dearborn, Ohio, Ripley and Switzerland counties would be new residents moving in. Franklin County’s growth would be led by natural increases.

As baby boomers age, however, southeast Indiana’s population looks to be getting older between now the midpoint of the century.

Four local counties are among just 14 in the state which would experience more than 200 percent increases in residents age 80 and older by 2050. Those are Dearborn, Franklin, Ohio, and Switzerland counties. Ripley County would have a 100 to 200 percent increase.

Dearborn, Franklin, and Ohio counties would each see declines in the percent of the population which are school-aged, ages five to 19.

Switzerland County would see the school aged population segment grow by more than ten percent. Ripley County’s is projected to grow by zero to five percent.

The growth of gray hair locally doesn’t end there. Older adults age 45-64 (23.4 percent) and seniors 65 or older (25.6) would make up nearly half of Dearborn County’s population in 2050. Contrast that with those two population segments making up 42.8 percent of the population in 2010.

Similar trends arise through the southeast Indiana region as well as statewide. More than 600,000 new people will fall into Indiana's over-65 demographic by 2050. 

The full IBRC report is available at http://www.stats.indiana.edu/topic/projections.asp.