A study of census projections says that by 2030, the District of Columbia will see a large decrease in population. And Mayor Williams says that’s just hogwash. The U.S. Census Bureau in its report says that the District’s population will drop from 572,000 residents to just more than 433,000 in the next quarter century.

The Post and the Examiner report that the statistical methodology uses pre-2001 data, data that the Post says “could have missed a dramatic reversal in migration trends away from the nation’s capital.” The Census Bureau says that although the mayor can guide his projections on hopes and dreams, the bureau can’t factor such things like hope into its calculations.

But the hopeful mayor has issued this response:

Despite 7,000 new housing units built in the last four years, despite dropping rental vacancy rates, fewer abandoned homes and an explosion of activity by developers all over the city, the Census Bureau today projected that the city will lose 138,000 people between now and 2030. That projection is laughably wrong. It runs contrary to all of the city’s best planning projections, which continue to show a surge in growth that will swell the city’s population to 712,000 by 2030.

What do you think? Will the District’s population increase, or will it fall behind Wyoming as the least populous state/district/entity with either a voting or non-voting representative in Congress.