Northeast, Midwest not as young at heart : Regions lose 1.2M youths over decade

USA Today reports:

States in the Northeast and Midwest saw their youth population drop by more than 1.2 million in the past decade, a decline that threatens the regions' economic stability and future growth.

An analysis of Census data released Thursday shows that the number of children under 18 fell in half the nation's states and the District of Columbia from 2000 to 2009.

Factors in the decline in children, most dramatic in Northern states, include families leaving one region for another because of better housing and job opportunities. Vermont's youth population fell 14%. North Dakota and Maine also experienced double-digit drops.

"People with families are moving to the Sun Belt where, for a good part of the decade, the economy was good and homes affordable," says William Frey, a Brookings Institution demographer who analyzed the data.

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