Some rural counties lose population from both outmigration and deaths exceeding births

In the 1990s, the population of many rural counties rose because of in-migration and natural increase (more births than deaths). But in this decade, more rural counties' populations are declining because some are seeing a reversal in both those trends. Nearly 500 rural counties' populations are falling due to both outmigration and as the death rate overtakes the birth rate, reports the Daily Yonder.

As seen in the map by Department of Agriculture demographer Calvin Beale and Kathleen Kassle, the darkest counties are those with this "double whammy." This condition, “which did not did not arise overnight, poses difficult development challenges,” Beale told the Daily Yonder. (Read more)