Research & Economic Analysis

This report presents the results and methodology of the 2050 Series of the DBEDT Population and Economic Projections for the State of Hawaii and its four counties.

This is the tenth in a series of long-range projections dating back to the first report published by DBEDT in 1978. The 2050 Series used the detailed population characteristics from the 2020 Decennial Census, vintage 2022 population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 estimates of economic variables, and input-output (I-O) tables based on the 2017 Economic Census as baseline data for the projections.

It should be noted that these projections are neither targets nor goals. They are DBEDT’s best estimates of likely trends in important population and economic variables based on currently available information. The accuracy of these projections depends on the degree to which historical trends provide guides to the future, changing external conditions, infrastructure capacity, and other supply constraints which have not been incorporated into the model.

Section 1 of the report summarizes the population and economic projections for the state and counties. Section 2 describes the methodology and assumptions that were used to produce the projections. The appendix tables contain detailed projections.