Charleston Gazette-Mail – West Virginia lost more than 6,100 people between July 1, 2014, and July 1, 2015, according to the 2015 population estimates put out by the U.S. Census Bureau. Read
Percentage-wise, West Virginia’s 0.25 percent decrease was the largest in the country. Six other states lost population, according to the Census: Illinois, Connecticut, Mississippi, Maine, Vermont and New Mexico.
West Virginia has seen a population decrease for three straight years in the Census estimates.
“What’s remarkable is that West Virginia is just in complete stagnation,” said Ted Boettner, executive director of the progressive-leaning West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.
The population of the state has fluctuated in Census data since its peak in 1950, but while West Virginia made up 1.3 percent of the U.S. population in 1950, today it only makes up 0.57 percent.
West Virginia also is the only state that has seen a decrease in population since 1950. Iowa, the state that has seen the lowest growth after West Virginia, has grown by 19.18 percent.
