Maine has now joined West Virginia as being one of just two states in the U.S. where the death rate is outpacing births.
LifeSiteNews.com is reporting that a new report issued by the Governor’s Office of Policy and Management (OPM) found that there were 103 more deaths than births in the state from July 2011 to July 2012.
Maine and West Virginia are the only states where deaths exceeded births during this period and marks the first time in 70 years that more people died in Maine than were born in a single year. The 12,694 births in 2011 was the lowest yearly total on record, dating back to 1940.
“The state’s birth rate has steadily fallen over the last 23 years, from 14.1 live births per 1,000 women in 1990 to 10.2 per 1,000 women today,” LifeSite reports.
Census data shows that Maine has the highest percentage of Baby Boomers in the country at 29.4 percent. The median age is 43 with just over 20 percent of the state’s population composed of people under the age of 18.
“A few aspects of Maine’s demographic picture stand out: an older population with a large number of baby boomers, relatively few children, and low numbers of racial and ethnic minorities,” the report states.
These numbers are bad news for the state’s economy.
“Business executives look at workforce availability when making plans for the future. In addition to information about the makeup of their current workforce, they look at how many working-age people will be available in the coming years,” the OPM report states.
The OPM is not the only report giving a warning about the state’s future outlook. The state’s Department of Labor issued a similar report entitled “The Maine Labor Force – Aging and Slowly Growing.”
“An aging, slowly growing population and the declining rate of residents participating in the labor force will result in slow labor force growth during the coming years,” the report stated. “No county will escape the demographic challenge posed by the aging work force.”
State Economist Amanda Rector agreed that the natural decreases are an economic challenge for the state.
“Population growth is directly related to economic growth,” she told the Portland Press Herald. “Businesses that want to move here or expand need to be able to fill their work force needs.”
Economists are hoping that improvements in the economy will spur the birth rate, which it often does. If not, the state may have to rely on bringing in people from other states or countries to fill their workplace needs.
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