Nevada Demography

World’s Population 7 Billion and Counting

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:54:38 +0000

Today, Monday, October 21, 2011, it is estimated that the world has reached the 7 Billion mark for our population. There are some sites that illustrate this and its implications. One is from NPR that has a nice video on how population growth has occurred. They also have a site that discusses what the typical person looks like now. This site provides a link to find out what number you are in the world’s population. I was 2,705,245,262nd alive on earth. The Washington Post has done in-depth reporting on this topic especially on the graying of the worlds population.

2010 Census Data Being Released

admin — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 00:59:53 +0000

The Census Bureau has begun releasing the 2010 Census data. The initial data is for redistricting purposes and covers total population, race, ethnicity, population over and less than 18 years of age, and total housing units and their occupancy status. We will be posting tables from this data as it becomes available and the opportunity to create them. We will also be providing links to Adobe Acrobat versions of the census tract maps as they become available from the Census Bureau. These links can be found at our Nevada 2010 Census page.

One new feature for Nevada’s census data is that there are 58 new census designated places that have been created. A Census Designated Place (CDP) is a statistical area that is bounded by visible features. As such, those boundaries may or may not coincide with boundaries of Nevada’s Unincorporated Towns. Also, not all caps are towns for the purpose of Nevada’s estimates program.

2010 Census Redistricting Data

admin — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:18:48 +0000

Detailed information from the 2010 census is now being released. We will be looking at different ways to present the information and make it available on a flow basis. For now you may want to look at the Census Bureau’s website. click here

One link on the Census Bureau’s website is for custom tables which is a quick summary for the counties and cities of Nevada.

Is It the Census, an Estimate, or a Projection

admin — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:50:14 +0000

Recently, the State Demographer’s office released population projections for 2010 through 2030. We did a press release for that and the document can be found by clicking here. Some stories have sounded like the projection for 2010 is the estimate for 2010. That is not the case and this blog is being written to clarify the difference between the these two terms – estimates and projections. There will be a lot of information about 2010 coming out n the coming months. Here is a summary of the key products and their differences.

THE 2010 SHORT FORM CENSUS OR DECENNIAL CENSUS

An analogy for the Census is the inventory or hard count used in retail stores. The Census is an effort to count everyone at one time at their usual place of residence. It is the official count of the population and is used to apportion the House of Representatives, redistrict congressional and state legislative districts, and is used is various Federal funding formulas. It is used to gauge the accuracy of population estimates.

THE ANNUAL POPULATION ESTIMATES

An estimate is a calculation of the current population based on a set of administrative records or other data that reflect current or recent conditions. Continuing the retail sales analogy, the estimates are like tracking a stores goods through sales and shipping data (administrative records). They may be real time data or there can be a lag. For instance a the shipping invoice is still in accounting and not yet available to the person who is trying to project future sales. Estimates provide information between censuses about how things are changing.

POPULATION PROJECTIONS

Projections are done to see where past trends seem to be taking us. If there is strong enough belief in them then they become forecasts. They are often based on recent or long term historic data and are analyzed or modeled to see where they are going. A buyer for a retail store is interested in what to order for the coming Christmas season so he looks at historic data to project sales before he invests in certain goods. As the goods start to arrive, he estimates his total sales volume as current information becomes available.

Each of these of these play a role in private and public decision making. We are still gathering data for the estimates and the 2010 estimate will be released later this year or in early 2011.

Our New Website

admin — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:36:22 +0000

This is the first blog for the Nevada State Demographer website. We will be migrating from the old website to this one. We hope that you find it useful. This site is part of an effort by the University of Nevada, Reno to better serve folks who are looking for information and assistance. While the State Demographer’s office is still part of the Nevada Small Business Development Center we are also part of a larger effort to organize UNR’s outreach programs as part of the Business Services Group. Please feel free to look around our new website, it is still a work in progress. Also, feel free to comment about it and make suggestions to us on ways to improve it.

2010 Population Projections

admin — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 00:47:09 +0000

On October 12 we released our 2010 projections for Nevada and its counties they are available through our projection’s page. The news release for them is available from the University of Nevada, Reno’s website by clicking here. The two sources of the projections, the State Demographer’s offices using the Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI) model as a tool and Moody’s.com, are in agreement that we could be seeing a loss in population approaching 54,000 people between now and 2014. The Moody’s.com data presents a scenario of sustained growth returning beginning in 2014. In considering our future and how much these projections portray our future we suggest the user consider five questions.

The Five Questions:

How soon will employment recover for the country as a whole and Nevada in particular?

What kind of jobs will make up any employment recovery and what skills will they require?

How mobile is labor, that is, how willing are people to relocate and do they have the resources to do so? This includes both people moving to Nevada and people emigrating to other areas. While retirees and early retirees may play a role in Nevada’s growth, their ability and desire to relocate to Nevada in sufficient numbers to significantly change our demographic and economic characteristics is uncertain. We are likely to be impacted by people who migrated here during their working years, who are aging here and impacting the need for services.

What economic, social and physical infrastructure is needed to support growth in Nevada?

What capacity is there to fund our infrastructure and how willing are we as a state to invest in our future?