The harsh reality of the census

The number of Imperial Valley residents has declined in the last four years, according to a U.S Census Bureau report.

Based on the population count carried out last year, the population of Imperial County is 180,267. However, in 2017, the figure was 181,250, the largest population in Imperial Valley history. This means that in the last four years, the county has lost

983 residents, or 0.54 percent.

It also means the trend is fairly new. According to the 2010 census, there were 174,704 inhabitants in the Imperial Valley. So the county was growing up until recently, given there were 5,563 more inhabitants in 2020 than there were in 2010.

The census details that in the past decade there were 30,275 births and 10,616 deaths in Imperial County. At the same time, Imperial Valley became the home for 1,371 people who emigrated from other countries. Those numbers suggest the county should have experienced a population boom over the course of the decade, but that’s not what happened. That’s because 15,417 residents moved out of the county during the past decade.

California lost a seat in Congress after the Census Bureau announced that population growth was lower than in other states, while Texas and Florida gained seats due to population growth.

Several people have blamed the strategies undertaken during the Donald Trump administration to prevent census employees from counting people without documents present in the country. While that may have had an impact, it doesn’t really explain why it didn’t seem to have the same effect in elsewhere.

Thanks to state funds, local authorities created a series of campaigns to promote census participation. Whether that effort was effective depends on your point of view. If you’re just looking at the population decline, then maybe you’d see it as a failure. On the other hand, if you look at the results and say, “It could have been worse,” then maybe you’re marking it as a win.

Then, of course, there was the specter of the coronavirus in our region, which I do not doubt also had some impact on the census results.

The bottom line is Imperial County will see a slight increase in federal resources allocated to the region thanks to the 2020 census. It also clearly will continue to share a congressional district with a neighboring county.

Meanwhile, I wonder, where have the inhabitants who have left Imperial Valley in recent years gone? Perhaps some have chosen to reside in other counties and even in other states where life is cheaper. Given the long lines and wait times at border ports, possibly many have moved to Mexicali, where the cost of housing is much more affordable than here. That, of course, will remain a question, unless a thorough study of the subject is carried out.

For many years, the local population has complained about the lack of job and economic opportunities in this region, which has prompted young people to study and live in other places where their prospects are more enticing. I believe that as a society we must think about how we are going to change the trend to ensure a better standard of living for all and thus prevent the exodus of our most valuable resource: our people.