Column: Candidates neglect population projections

In the decade of the Great Depression, the 1930s, the population of Indiana grew by 5.8 percent. Later, in the 1970s, a decade of great economic turmoil, the state’s population advanced by 5.7 percent. The 1980s saw a strong recession and a subsequent restructuring of American business; Indiana’s population grew by a mere 1.0 percent.

Those three decades were the worst for Indiana’s population growth in the 20th century.

Now, according to population projections released by the Indiana Business Research Center in the Kelley School of Business at IU, we are again in a decade of 5.7 percent growth (2010 to 2020). While this is anemic, it is just a prelude to future decades of decreasing population growth rates for the Hoosier state.

As the candidates for governor and senator, and their sponsors, spend millions on TV ads, what do we hear about the serious economic and social consequences of the demographic changes forecast by the research center?

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