Attracting and retaining people to live, work, raise a family, and retire underlies the economic vitality of any region. Population growth is both a cause--and a consequence--of economic growth. Patterns of population growth and change reflect differences among regions to attract and retain people both as producers and consumers in their economy.

The following graphs offer a broad overview of trends in the pattern of population growth and change of Honolulu County with comparisons to Hawaii and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Honolulu County vs. Hawaii's population growth over 1969-2022. The data used are those compiled by the Regional Income and Product Divisions of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.

Figure 1 tracks Honolulu County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Honolulu County's population rose from 603,438 in 1969 to 995,638 in 2022, for a net gain of 392,200, or 64.99%.

NOTE: The county and state population totals reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) are from the Bureau of Census midyear (July 1) estimates. These estimates may differ from those prepared independently in some states by various agencies and/or universities.

Figure 2 traces Hawaii's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Hawaii's population rose from 743,000 in 1969 to 1,440,196 in 2022, for a net gain of 697,196, or 93.84%.

NOTE: The county and state population totals reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) are from the Bureau of Census midyear (July 1) estimates. These estimates may differ from those prepared independently in some states by various agencies and/or universities.

Figure 3 portrays Honolulu County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Hawaii, the United States. The growth indices shown here express each region's population in 1969 as a base figure of 100, and the populations in later years as a percentage of the 1969 base figure. This method allows for more direct comparison of differences in population growth between regions that may differ vastly in size.

Honolulu County's overall population growth was 64.99% over 1969-2022 trailed Hawaii's increase of 93.84%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of Honolulu County is to trace its individual percentage contributions to Hawaii's statewide population over time, as shown in Figure 4. A rising share means a region's population grew faster, or declined less, than Hawaii's population, while a declining share shows it grew more slowly.

In 1969, Honolulu County's population comprised 81.22% of Hawaii's population, while in 2022 it totaled 69.13% thereby yielding a -12.08% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Honolulu County's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1970-2022. The average annual percent change for the entire 53-year period is also traced on this chart to provide a benchmark for gauging periods of relative high--and relative low--growth against the backdrop of the long-term average.

On average, Honolulu County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.95% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1972 (5.02%) and posted its lowest growth in 1999 (-0.90%). In 2022, Honolulu County's population declined by -0.90%

Over the past five decades some counties have experienced extreme swings in growth, and often such swings have tended to coincide with the decades themselves. Figure 6 again depicts the annual percent change in Honolulu County's population since 1970, but this time they are overlayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020-2022.

During the 1970s, Honolulu County's annual population growth rate averaged 2.25%. It averaged 0.99% during the 1980s, 0.56% in the 1990s, 0.71% throughout the 2000s, 0.78% in the 2010s, -0.76% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Honolulu County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Hawaii and the nation. As the chart reveals, Honolulu County's average annual population growth recorded under Hawaii's average during the 1970s (2.25% vs. 2.49%), recorded under Hawaii's average in the 1980s (0.99% vs. 1.43%), fell below Hawaii's average throughout the 1990s (0.56% vs. 1.01%), fell below Hawaii's average in the 2000s (0.71% vs. 1.07%), amounted to less than Hawaii's average in the 2010s (0.78% vs. 0.79%), and posted below Hawaii's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.76% vs. -0.39%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Honolulu County led the nation during the 1970s (2.25% vs. 1.10%), led the nation in the 1980s (0.99% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation during the 1990s (0.56% vs. 1.23%), recorded underneath the nation during the 2000s (0.71% vs. 0.95%), led the nation during the 2010s (0.78% vs. 0.74%), and lagged the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.76% vs. 0.31%).