(Medill News Service) — While Chicago’s black population plunged dramatically in the last 10 years, according to the 2010 Census, the black population in Cook and the surrounding counties fell at half the pace. African-Americans accounted for about 90 percent of Chicago’s 200,000-person population drop over the past 10 years, but the drop in the number of blacks in the six-county metropolitan region was on par with decline in the overall population. The black population decline in the city “was so dramatic,” said community analyst Rob Paral. The city’s black population dropped by 17 percent over the period, compared with an overall drop of 7 percent, based on analysis by Medill Reports of recently released census data. The rate of decline of the black population in Cook and the surrounding counties was 9 percent. Some blamed the drop in the city on an error in the 2010 Census, but others disagree.
