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Cayuga County's population drop this decade has been fueled largely by declines in the number of children living in the county, according to new figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Census Bureau last week issued 2007 estimates that broke down the population by age, gender and race. While Cayuga County's overall population has dropped 2.3 percent since 2000, to 80,066, the decline in the number of residents 19 years old and younger was 15 percent.

The 19-and-under population in Cayuga County, at 19,276, still exceeded the population of residents 65 and older. That age group had 11,687 residents, which was down 1.1 percent from 2000. The number of residents 85 and older, however, increased from 1,538 to 1,997.

Another growth area for the county was the minority population. Although non-whites still make up a small portion of the county's overall population, numbers have grown 1.6 percent since 2000. Growth could be seen in all minority groups except black males.

The white population in the county, at 75,183, declined 1.6 percent.