Utah must be nimble to adapt to an evolving landscape

Irecentlytoured Lone Peak Hospital in southern Salt Lake County. This facility, in the heart of one of the fastest growing areas of Utah, must adapt to the constantly changing economic and demographic landscape. Although the hospital opened its doors only 10 years ago, it just completed a major expansion, including nearly doubling its bed count and expanding its women’s services, surgical services, and interventional radiology services. It is also expanding into other communities, including Herriman, Riverton, and South Jordan.

To survive and thrive in our changing environment, all businesses must remain nimble and responsive to the needs of a growing population.

Our state continues to grow. Utah’s population topped 3.4 million last year, and grew by more than 61,000 people, according to the recently released 2023 Economic Report to the Governor. This is like adding a new city the size of Herriman every year. And Utah remains one of the fastest growing states in the nation.

Our birth rate is slowing. One of the traditional unique characteristics of Utah’s population growth is that because of our high fertility rate, most of the population growth has come from “natural increase” — the number of births minus deaths in the year. However, in recent years Utah’s fertility rate dropped and is now lower than South Dakota, Nebraska,

By Robert Spendlove, Zions Bank Senior Economist

and North Dakota. But Utah recently saw a resurgence in births. For the first time since 2008, Utah births increased, topping 46,000 in 2022.

Migration is driving our growth. On the other hand, Utah has seen a migration surge in recent years. The Utah Population Committee estimates that net migration (in-migration minus out-migration) brought more than 38,000 new residents to our state in 2022. This represents 62% of the total population growth in Utah and it is the highest number of people moving into the Beehive State in a single year.

Growth is a struggle and a blessing. There is no doubt that our state has struggled under the weight of high population growth and high migration. Population growth puts greater strains on roads, schools, housing, public utilities, natural resources, and social services. It is vital for civic leaders across the state to appropriately plan for population growth and build the infrastructure necessary to support these new residents. And we must all adjust to higher demand for our limited resources as the population grows.

However, while population growth produces challenges, it is much better than the alternative. Many states in our country are currently experiencing the struggles of population loss. In these states, governments struggle to fix roads, bridges, and infrastructure; businesses struggle with decreasing demand as customers move away; and housing price growth slows or drops as people leave. On the other side of the world, China just announced that for the first time since 1961 the country’s population shrank. A shrinking population will cause the supply of workers to shrink, which may cause productivity and overall economic growth to languish.

Abbott

Supporting the needs of China’s aging population will place a greater strain on workers and taxpayers as the dependency ratio increases.

Utah is blessed to have unmatched natural beauty, a high quality of life, and a strong and vibrant economy. Businesses are attracted to our state because of our strong and growing workforce, which is driven by strong population growth. And nimble companies and communities will be able to thrive in our growing state. l