(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s population is projected to progressively decline from the 5.96 million recently estimated by the U.S. Census to 5.71 million by 2050, according to a new report from the state’s Department of Administration.

Those estimates show population has likely peaked and will be at an estimated 5.89 million by 2030 and 5.84 million by 2040.

The dip comes due to an aging population and fertility rates that are lower than the projected death rates in the state as that population ages.

“In coming decades, Wisconsin’s largest generation, the baby boomers, will enter higher-mortality age groups. As this happens, there will be increasing probability of negative natural change,” the report says.

State leaders have been warned about what might be coming for the state due to projected drops in Wisconsin’s population and workforce numbers, making the state a smaller portion of the overall U.S. economy.

Wisconsin had a consistent total of nearly 1.1 million children under 15 until the past 15 years, when those numbers began to drop. The total went down 41,000 between 2010 and 2020 and then dropped by 49,000 over the past three years.