Report forecasts ebb in population growth

After growing 26 percent during the 1990s, Citrus County's population is expected to increase at a slower pace during each of the next three decades, according to a University of Florida report issued Tuesday.

The report predicted the Citrus population would jump 19 percent between 2000 and 2010, then 15 percent during the next decade and 11 percent during the decade after that.

All told, the Citrus population would be up 55 percent between 2000 and 2030 -- from about 117,225 to 181,699.

If the projections are correct, Citrus' growth would be considered standard on a statewide scale: Twenty-six of Florida's 66 other counties are expected to have greater percentage increases in their populations between 2000 and 2030.

The report, which the university's Bureau of Economic and Business Research produced, predicted that 33 of Florida's 67 counties will grow by 50 percent or more between 2000 and 2030.

Flagler County on the northeast coast will lead the way with a 147 percent increase, according to June Nogle, a demographer with the bureau who wrote the study along with Stan Smith, the bureau's director.

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