A second aspect of the geographic shift of the population has been the notable concentration of the population in the central counties of Halifax, Lunenburg, Kings, Hants and Colchester. While the Nova Scotia population increased by 19.5% between 1971 and 1996 the population of this central region increased by 35.6%. Only 52.2% of the entire provincial population resided in these counties in 1971, but they accounted for over 59% of the total in 1996. The Northeastern counties of Antigonish, Guysborough, Pictou, and Cumberland together recorded an increase of only 5.0% over the past two and one half decades and their share of the province total fell from 14.1% in 1971 to 12.4% in 1996. The Southwestern counties of Annapolis to Queens, also experienced a modest 6.8% gain and saw their share of the province total decline from 12.2% to 11.5%.
While Inverness and Victoria counties exhibited small gains between 1971 and 1991, the entire Cape Breton Island population fell by 4.9% and its share of the province total declined from 21.5% in 1971 to 17.5% in 1996.
If recent moves are any indication of future geographic trends, it appears as though an even greater proportion of the provincial population will be concentrated in the five central counties. This proportion could easily reach 65% of the provincial population by the year 2021. This is confirmed by the recent trends in natural increase in many counties within the province. During the year 1994 the number of deaths exceeded the number of births in 7 of the 18 counties and the numbers were close in several others. In the absence of net in-migration the population of these counties will decline.