A general exponential model can be described by:
Where A is the initial condition, and b is the growth factor. From the problem, P is the population (in millions); if x is the number of years passed since 2011, then x = 0 in 2011:
We know that the growth rate is -0.657% = -0.00657. The growth rate r and the growth factor b are related by:
Our model is now complete:
For the year 2024, x = 13 years have passed. Then, we calculate the population using our model (rounding to the nearest hundredth):
The size of the population in 2024 will be about 96.38 million