TALLAHASSEE - Since World War II, Florida has beckoned retirees looking to spend their golden years in the sun. The steady stream has made Florida's population the oldest in the nation.

Now, Florida is headed for an even grayer future in the Baby Boomer retirement era, state economists and demographers predict. The consequences: worker shortages and severe strains on public pensions and government services.

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

Think of it as the economic stimulus package that comes along every 10 years.

Roughly 2,000 residents of Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast are already tromping through neighborhoods, cashing in on the program more commonly known as the U.S. Census. Before they and thousands more nationwide have completed their work late next year, up to $15 billion will have been spent trying to make sure every man, woman and child is counted.

Florida's most self-destructive annual sport - shooting at the snowbirds - opened last week. Did you bag your limit?

Once Easter passes, Florida's seasonal residents start flying north and northwest. They'll start coming back from October through Thanksgiving. Coincidentally, their migratory pattern tracks that of turkey vultures, for which year-rounders must mistake snowbirds, given their comments.

For the third straight year, enrollment dropped in Palm Beach County's public schools, a change administrators blame on South Florida's high cost of living, faltering economy and shaky real estate market.

After years of struggling to keep up with increasing enrollment, administrators now warn that for the next few years a lower student population could bring unwanted consequences, including delayed construction projects and fewer elective classes.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Lixkarime Padilla's family loves South Florida, but high prices and the sour economy have them thinking it might be smart to move someplace cheaper.

"We have friends who couldn't sell their house here so they rented it out and moved to North Carolina," said the 24-year-old Colombian immigrant. "They said rent is so much cheaper there that they can pay for food and everything else for what they used to pay here just for housing."

Palm Beach County's population is expected to drop for the first time in decades, jeopardizing a portion of its share of state revenues, county planners said Thursday.

A preliminary report given to the county by the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research estimates the county's population will drop by 933 people this year, Senior Planner Betty Yiu wrote in a message to top administrators. Population growth in Martin and St. Lucie counties is expected to slow to a crawl, but not decline, officials said.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Consumer confidence among Floridians made huge gains in August, rising six points to 67 from its revised July index, suggesting a turning point as state residents come to grips with the bleak economic picture, a new University of Florida study finds.

Non-Hispanic whites are leaving Broward and Palm Beach counties in droves. Meanwhile, the dramatic growth of Hispanics and other minority groups has slowed to a trickle.

The latest U.S. census estimates, released today, show that the number of non-Hispanic whites in Broward County went down by more than 24,000 between 2006 and 2007, single-handedly accounting for the county's drop in total population. In Palm Beach County, that number dropped by more than 9,000.