A decade is a short time

A curious claim today, right in the led, by Jeffrey Simpson, columnist for some country or another's national newspaper:

For the first time in almost four decades, the population of Newfoundland and Labrador has actually grown. That's good news, however temporary, for a province that since 1992 has lost 12 per cent of its population.

For the record, this chart shows the year-over-year (April to April, to allow for the inclusion of 2009) population change in Newfoundland and Labrador since 1953 inclusive. Green columns show years with annual population growth, red show decline.

[Data source: Statistics Canada table 051-0005]

The "first time in almost four decades" claim is true... if you start counting your four decades in 1993.

It's almost as if you can tell a columnist from some country's national newspaper anything about what's going on in the easternmost province, and they'll fall for it.