Michigan – Michigan might face some tough times ahead. A recent study has shown that Michigan could see a big drop in the number of people living in the state, with around 700,000 less by the year 2050. However, it’s not just about people moving away; this is also happening because not enough new people are coming in the state or and there isn’t enough to keep people here either. Plus, Michigan’s current population is getting older, and the study thinks that by 2038, there will be more deaths than births.
“Since 2020, Michigan was 49th in population growth. So, yes, our population isn’t growing as fast nationally as they once did, but in Michigan, population is going down,” said Ronald Fisher, a professor of economics at Michigan State University who also works on the Governor-appointed Growing Michigan Together Council, to WILX.
This study that came out in April is saying Michigan will have 700,000 fewer people by 2050. And according to the experts, this isn’t great news. It could mean problems for the way we live every day if we don’t start fixing this issue soon.
WILX spoke with Lou Glazer, the President of Michigan Future Inc., a think tank researching the population issues, and he said that this alarming trend will heavily impact the state’s economy as well as the representation of Michigan in the Congress. Glazer noted that immediate actions are needed to address this serious challenge.
The study shows that Michigan’s population might start to shrink in the 2030s. But there’s still about a decade to tackle this issue head-on, and it all starts with addressing the loss of educated young people, often called “brain drain.”
“Michigan is losing between 5 to 6 thousand college graduates every year. Maybe as many as 30 percent of the students that graduate from Michigan colleges are choosing to live elsewhere, so it’s not just that we’re losing population, but we’re getting older as a state,” said Fisher.
The big question now is what Michigan can do about it, knowing the reasons behind this trend.
“We’ve never made great cities a priority so we end up with non-competitive cities and we end up where we’re at. The second thing we need to do and can do, we need to be a state that’s friendly towards immigrants. We need to welcome immigrants, we want to have immigrants here,” said Glazer.
The problem isn’t that Michigan is missing something specific; it’s more that it doesn’t draw in those without prior ties or knowledge of what the state offers.
“It’s a lack of jobs that people want, a lack of jobs in new, growing high-tech industries that may be concentrated elsewhere, not in Michigan. Now, if we’re successful at that and get more students to go to college, then we need to have the environment and incentives to keep them in the state when they graduate,” said Fisher.
Initiatives like offering free community college and the Michigan Achievement Scholarship are steps towards nurturing a youthful, skilled workforce to power the state’s economy. The hope is to develop Michigan’s cities into places where this talent wants to stay and grow.