Population Boom
Editorial Staff
Florida's population is growing by leaps and bounds, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Census Bureau. In a recent press release, Census Bureau demographer Marc Perry said, "The estimated growth of Florida's population (to 15.1 million) in recent decades has been substantial. As recently as 1950, Florida had fewer than 3 million people."

And the growth doesn't appear to be waning anytime soon. In 1990, Collier County had a population of 152,099. Eight years later, that number grew to by a whopping 38 percent to 209,726. Lee County started out the decade with 335,113 and grew by 21 percent to finish 1998 with a population of 793,449.

By 2010, Collier's population is expected to grow to 283,126 and Lee County's population to 506,487. According to the Economic development Council of Collier County Inc., "Southwest Florida has been and will continue to be one of the fastest growing regions in the U.S." And Naples is the fastest growing metropolitan are in Florida, and in 1997, Collier County was the fifth fastest growing MSA in the country.

As expected, Florida's growth comes mainly from sources other than births in the state. According to the Census Bureau, Florida's population had a rate of .5 percent due to international migration from July 1998 to July 1999. Florida's increase followed only California at .8 percent, New York at .6 percent and the District of Columbia also at .6 percent.

For more information, check out the Department of Commerce's Web site at www.doc.gov.