Lee County

More than 1 million people are projected to be living in Lee County within 25 years, according to a study released Monday by the University of Florida.

That revelation comes even though the statistics show that the state’s population growth has slowed to its lowest level in more than 60 years.

Still, said Stan Smith, director of the university’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research, “there still will be pretty substantial growth.”

With Southwest Florida's population growing again and state-mandated caps on classroom sizes, Lee and Collier County school districts will need to hire more teachers in the next two years and middle school instructors may be the highest priority.

The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation predicts the state will need to hire about 3,400 more middle school teachers by the 2012-13 academic year. Lee and Collier will need to hire 61 and 24 additional middle school teachers in just math, science and language arts subjects by 2012, the agency reported.

Though Florida’s population grew enough to earn two new congressional seats, the number of children born in this state has dropped markedly since the economic downturn began, records show.

The declines are part of a broader national trend that started in 2008, according to a federal report released Tuesday.

U.S. births dropped 3 percent between 2008 and 2009 — about 4.1 million, compared with about 4.2 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Home sales may be a key reason why some estimates show the city grew this year, but not everyone agrees that more people moved in.

In April, the population jumped by 1,820 in the Cape compared to the year before - a 1.1 percent increase. That was after it declined 1.8 percent two years ago, according to University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research estimates.

Real estate agents say growth is happening because more homes are selling.
"The 1,800 growth in population is about 780 households," said broker Steve Koffman, Century 21 Sunbelt, Cape Coral.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — After declining for the first time since the end of World War II, Florida’s population grew once again last year, a hopeful yet tentative sign that the worst of the recession may have passed, according to the latest preliminary population estimates from the University of Florida.

The Sunshine State is estimated to have had the modest addition of more than 21,000 residents between 2009 and 2010 after its population fell by more than 56,000 between 2008 and 2009, said Stan Smith, director of UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It’s a small bounce, but Florida’s population should rebound this year from its first loss in more than half a century in a hopeful sign for the struggling state economy, new estimates from the University of Florida show.

The Sunshine State is expected to add about 23,000 residents between April 1, 2009, and April 1, 2010, following a loss of almost 57,000 residents the previous year, according to population projections released today by UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

If you picked up the most recent Time magazine, you probably saw a story captioned: ``A Shrinking Sunshine State.''

And, if you're like many Floridians who are sick of stewing in traffic, you got your hopes up.

The University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, which tracks population trends, recently reported that the state lost 58,294 residents between April 2008 and April 2009.

The following represent city-, county-, and regional-level news stories around the state relating to the BEBR Population Program's recent release of the April 1, 2009 preliminary population estimates.

Brevard's population dipped last year - Florida Today - August 24, 2009
UF: Polk Is Losing People - The Ledger - August 22, 2009

Once-explosive population gains in Lee County have nearly flat-lined, new estimates show, equating to the smallest growth hiccup since the 1970s.

Census Bureau figures released today reveal the population crept up about 1 percent from 588,129 in 2007 to 593,136 in 2008.

A News-Press analysis of state estimates dating to 1970 shows that the last time county growth hit the 1 percent range was from 1975 to 1976, a recession marked by unemployment and double-digit inflation.

Lee County's economic output slowed to a crawl in 2006, sinking what had been one of the nation's fastest growing economies to a middle-of-the-pack performer, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The area ranked 175 out of 363 metropolitan statistical areas for growth, as ranked by the bureau. In 2005, Lee ranked sixth in the nation for growth.