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Thursday, April 17, 2003

By Gary Rotstein, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Allegheny County and its metropolitan area continued to show slight population shrinkage in new census estimates for July 1, 2002.

The region's low rate of international immigration and relatively high number of deaths compared with births counter national trends. Those factors will make it difficult for the Pittsburgh area to resume gaining population.

The six-county region had a population in July of 2,346,525, compared with 2,358,695 at the time of the official census taken on April 1, 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau reported in new estimates released today for all counties. That's a decline of 12,170, or about one-half percent.

Allegheny County's population fell to 1,269,904 from 1,281,666 in that 27-month span, according to the estimates. Three of the metropolitan area's other counties also dropped: Beaver County, from 181,412 to 179,351; Fayette County, from 148,644 to 146,654; and Westmoreland County, from 369,993 to 368,428.

The Pittsburgh metropolitan area's two other counties increased: Butler County, from 174,083 to 178,078; and Washington County, from 202,897 to 204,110.

Pennsylvania's population has grown slightly, from 12,281,054 to 12,335,091.