Demographic Reminder

The other day a neighbor stopped me outside the post office to say thanks for working on the merger proposal...I commented that I was pleased that we'd seen the new-and-reelected Board members speak against it, since I don't believe it solves the very real problems headed our way, but that I hadn't heard what anyone (other than myself) has been proposing as possible-solutions-worth-exploring to those problems. Today I see a reminder of the demographic issue: RealClearScience - Murphysboro & The Death of Small Town America:

Murphysboro appears to be yet another victim among a much larger demographic trend: The slow death of small town America. From 2010-2012, for the first time in history, rural ("nonmetro") America declined in population. (See chart.)

As shown above, nonmetro America's population has always grown -- albeit in fits and starts. But notice how the gray line ("total population change") dips below the dotted line starting around 2010. That represents population loss, and it's happening because of falling birth rates and net migration out of rural areas.
It's hard to imagine this trend reversing. Indeed, immigration into urban areas has been a global phenomenon for decades....

This surprised me in that I hadn't realized that nonmetro America's population had been rising overall; that's not the case around here.