Civil Beat: Hawaii Island’s Population Drop Signals An Ominous Economic Trend

Photo credit: Stewart Yerton/Civil Beat/2024

Honolulu Civil Beat
May 12, 2024
By Stewart Yerton, April Estrellon

“Hawaii state economists foresee a time a decade from now when the state’s demographic trends will turn an ominous corner, and there will be more people dying than being born.

But a retired university demographer living in Hilo has found that the future is now, at least for Hawaii Island.

A “natural decrease” in population, as demographers call it, is already happening on the Big Island, says Karl Eschbach, who previously served as the Texas State Demographer.”