SAN DIEGO (CNS) - San Diego County's population is expected to swell to nearly 4 million people by 2050, and almost 4.14 million a decade later, according to projections released this week by the state Department of Finance.
By comparison, the state estimated San Diego County's population on July 1 last year to be 3.3 million.
The state also forecasted that the state's overall population would grow from 39 million to over 51 million by 2060. The figures were also broken down to each of the 58 counties and demographic groups.
The study found that the Golden State's population will have far more people in their golden years, so that by 2051, California will experience more deaths than births. Population growth would be maintained by migration.
Much sooner, though, members of Generation X -- those born between 1965 and 1980 -- will overtake their Baby Boom predecessors in population size, at around 20 percent each. That's expected to happen in 2019, according to the report.
In San Diego County, the number of residents 65 or older in 2015 was around 438,000. State officials projected the number to top 1 million by 2060.
The white population of around 1.53 million in the San Diego region was forecast to rise slightly to 1.57 million in 2030 before slipping back to 1.53 million in 2060.
Meanwhile, Hispanics are expected to increase from 1.01 million to 1.7 million. The African American and Asian populations are projected to see slight growth locally.
Among statewide findings:
-- the amount of population growth through 2060 is equivalent to the current population of Ohio;
-- the total fertility rate, which has already fallen from 2.1 children per woman in 2000 to 1.8 in 2015, is expected to further decrease to 1.6 children per woman by 2060;
-- whites, who made up 38 percent of the population last year, will comprise 31 percent in 2060, while Hispanics will go from 39 percent to 46 percent;
-- the percentage of multiracial individuals will double from 3 percent to 6 percent; and
-- while no changes are expected in the ranking of the state's largest counties, the largest percentage population growth regions will be around the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, the Central Valley and Inland Empire.
