In the 2010 Census, Maine grew by 4.2 percent, or 53,438 souls, finally topping the 1.3 million mark.

That is a solid growth rate, and leaves us in better shape than many other states. But it’s not good enough.

Maine’s growth was only half the national rate of 9.7 percent, but that figure is skewed by some Southwestern states that experienced phenomenal growth.

Arizona, for instance, practically absorbed the entire population of Maine over the past 10 years, gaining

1.26 million people.

The 2010 Census found that Nevada was the fastest-growing state in the nation over the past decade. The state went from just under 2 million people in 2000 to

2.7 million in 2010.

At one point mid-decade, Las Vegas was building new homes so furiously that a house was completed on average every 20 minutes.

That kind of growth is not always a blessing.

As a result of the recession and housing crisis, entire housing developments in Nevada are now uncompleted, neighborhoods are littered with for-sale signs and the state has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the U.S.

Clearly, rapid growth does not always guarantee stability or prosperity.

On the other end of the population scale, beleaguered Michigan was the only state in the U.S. to lose population over the past decade.

Detroit itself lost a century’s worth of population growth in 10 years.

The once-proud Motor City lost 25 percent of its population, an almost unimaginable crash for a major U.S. city.

During th 1950s, the city was home to 2 million people. Today, it has just over 713,000 residents.

Entire neighborhoods have been cleared, while some experts have suggested portions of the city may eventually return to farmland.

When it comes to growth, slow and steady is no doubt preferable to boom or, clearly, bust.

And Maine has been nothing if not steady. The state has gained population in every decade since 1910.

Our slowest rate of growth was between 1960 and 1970, when the state grew by only 2.4 percent.

That was followed by a comparative boom between 1970 and 1980 when the state’s population grew by

13.4 percent.

Maine’s growth picked up a bit of pace from the 2000 census when the state grew by only 2.8 percent.

Lewiston, meanwhile, reversed its population decline, thanks largely to immigrant migration.

But it is growth, nonetheless. Without it, Lewiston probably would have seen a population decline, which never bodes well for a community.

Remarkably, Androscoggin County now has the fourth-highest percentage of under-18 population in the state, and it was the only county not to lose any share of young people.

Maine still has the highest proportion of people over 65 in the nation, which is extremely worrisome.

If that trend continues, we will have fewer and fewer people of working age supporting an increasingly large population of people in need of expensive services.

Clearly, Maine must increase its working-age population.

We can only do that through education, enterprise and changing our business climate.

That is the challenge of the decade ahead.

rrhoades@sunjournal.com

The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.