On the eve of next year’s national census, new projections from a state office project that Gloucester County’s population in 2020 will be 37,343 people. The Census of 2010 counted 36,858 people.

The same office, the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, projects a Mathews County population of 8,665 people by 2020. The 2010 census was 8,978 inhabitants.

The projections take their figures even further: to 38,181 in Gloucester by 2030, and 38,530 in 2040. This pattern continues the slow population increases found in annual estimates, also by the Cooper Center.

For Mathews, the population is projected to continue its decline since the 2010 census, to 8,277 people in 2030, and 7,796 by 2040.

The Cooper Center projects continued growth statewide, to reach 8.6 million inhabitants by next year and 9.8 million in 2040.

The national census will take place April 1, 2020. Numbers of projections and estimates are worked up from a number of variables, including past patterns of ...