Official Calls Las Vegas 'Geographic Magnet

The valley's growing population is going to set the trend for emerging business opportunities in Las Vegas and foreign-born immigrants represent the largest segment of that growth, a demographic researcher said Tuesday.

Las Vegas has experienced phenomenal growth over the years, especially the 1940s and '50s when growth rates reached double digits, and the population is projected to top 2 million by 2015, said Peter Morrison of Rand Population Research Center.

The metropolitan area is a microcosm of the United States' growing influx of immigrants and maturing baby boomers, he said.

"What I see from the outside is Las Vegas is a geographic magnet. People are here by choice rather than their place of birth," Morrison said at Las Vegas Perspective 2004, an economic forum that highlights information contained in a 104-page book used to recruit new business.

Every day, about 165 new residents move to Clark County, he calculated.

In 2003, 23,624 babies were born here, 11,798 people died, domestic net migration was 37,017 and foreign net migration was 10,849 for a total population growth of 59,692, or 3.9 percent from the previous year.

"That's an amazing graphic," Morrison said as he displayed the numbers for some 1,000 business and community leaders who attended the event at The Orleans arena.

The share of foreign-born newcomers to Las Vegas grew from 5 percent in 1993-94 to 12 percent in 1998-99, broadening Southern Nevada's "ethnic mosaic," Morrison said.

He sees Latinos represent the fastest-growing segment. They comprised 22 percent of the county's 1.4 million population in 2000 and will grow to 28 percent of 1.9 million population in 2010.

Another expanding segment is made up of mature adults, empty nester baby boomers and "two-generation geriatric" families with growing service needs, Morrison said.

"We're going to have more people of older ages, and they're going to be retiring later or not retiring at all," he said.

Keith Schwer, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said growth has inevitably brought about change, some of it for the better and some for the worse.

There are more shopping choices such as Nordstrom at the Fashion Show mall and boutique stores at Boca Park Marketplace, but it takes longer to get there.

A survey about growth showed a greater concern from longtime residents than newcomers. Sixty percent of those who have lived here for 20 years or more said they were "very concerned" about growth, compared with 30 percent of those who have moved here in the past six years.

Along with traffic congestion, major concerns about growth focused on the quality of health care and education, Schwer said.

Nearly 40 percent of those surveyed for Las Vegas Perspective rated the local public schools as "fair" and 20.9 percent rated them "poor." Thirty-six percent said schools were "good" and 4.3 percent said they were "excellent."

In rating health care, 38.4 percent said it was "fair" and 19.3 percent said it was "poor."