Guysborough shrinks the most
The biggest percentage drop was in Guysborough County. It lost 3.2 percent of its population last year, a drop of 245 people to 7, 345.
"Do the math, " Warden Vernon Pitts said Thursday. "It's not looking good in anyone's books."
The region has few jobs, which makes it hard to keep people, Pitts said.
A proposal from Vulcan Mines to open a quarry near Black Point could go a long way toward stabilizing the population decline, he said. He also has high hopes for a LNG project in Goldboro, which he said could turn the county into a demographic hot spot.
'We'd welcome them with open arms'
That's all the more important as Nova Scotia oil industry workers living in Alberta look to home for new jobs, he said.
"Hopefully if we get one or two of these projects off the ground, we'll be able to accommodate anyone who wants to move, " Pitts said. "We'd welcome them with open arms."
Yarmouth County was next on the population decline list, shrinking by 1.6 per cent. That's a drop of 384 people to 24, 357.
Cape Breton saw the most people leave: 999 left the island, leading to a population decline of one per cent.
Deaths outnumber births
Deaths outnumbered births by 562 in Nova Scotia overall, although Halifax Regional Municipality and Hants County bucked this trend.
Halifax saw 997 more births than deaths; Hants County 110 more.
Last year the population of Canada rose by 0.9 per cent to 35, 851, 774. Alberta saw the greatest population growth, up 1.8 per cent.
Only New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador saw populations decrease with declines of 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.
Denine Richard