The latest population figures show local government areas across western Victoria struggling with growth rates that, in the best case scenarios, were less than one per cent a year.

The Wimmera region was home to the worst performers out of western Victoria, with Buloke Shire, West Wimmera Shire, Hindmarsh and Yarrimabiack taking out the bottom four places on the statewide growth league table, with declines ranging from 1.0 to 1.3 per cent.

Ararat Rural City saw a 0.1 per cent population increase, the 14^th worst result out of Victoria’s 79 local government areas.

Northern Grampians ranked 6^th worse with a 0.7 per cent decline.

Ballarat saw a population increase of 1.9 per cent, which was comparable with many outer suburbs of Melbourne.

Melbourne’s best performing areas saw population increases ranging from 2.9 to 8.1 per cent.

Overall, the Grampians and Wimmera region lost a net total of 208 people between 2016 and 2017.

Ripon MP Louise Staley said the Coalition’s election promise to improve the V/Line commuter schedule for Ararat and fund a study into returning passenger rail to western Victoria would help address declining populations.

“Rail is very much part of our conversation and our thinking about population decentralisation,” she said.

“The numbers from the ABS tell us that we have all of this growth in Melbourne and a lot of places in country Victoria are flat-lining.”

Ms Staley said returning passenger rail to lines through Stawell and St Arnaud would drive population growth out to regional towns and cities.

“Passenger rail is a very important component to driving population growth,” she said.

Labor candidate for Ripon Sarah De Santis said population decline was “a real challenge”.

“One of the key issues that has come through from my discussion with local governments and community groups is the absolute desire to hold on to and grow populations, particularly in the towns to the north,” Ms De Santis said.

“There’s a real understanding that if your population is in decline, your town is at risk of disappearing.

“A lot of these towns struggle to retain people because of a number of factors; employment is an issue and there is also the issue of educational facilities.”

Ms De Santis said the state government was working with local governments on the issue, and pointed to recent multi-million dollar health and education funding announcements for Stawell.

“We’ll continue to work with local governments and community groups to keep improving what we know is a great place to live,” she said.

During 2016/17, Ararat’s natural population saw a decline of 16 people and 31 people migrated to other areas.

Overseas migration was the major factor that spared Ararat from chalking up a population decline, with 63 immigrants in the same time period.

Ararat had the highest number of overseas migrants in the Grampians and Wimmera regions.

Northern Grampians saw its natural population shrink by 39 people, with more than 80 migrating to other areas and just 42 overseas immigrants coming in.

Even larger regional centres like Horsham Rural City struggled to maintain population growth, but Horsham was much more reliant on its birth rate than overseas migration.

Pyrenees Shire saw 50 domestic migrants, the second highest number out of the Grampians and Wimmera regions.