-24- it is also possible to account for part of the differences in per capital consumption between various states in the South. Residents of urban areas consume as much as one-third less fluid milk products per person than the farm population. Rural non-farm residents also consume slightly more fluid milk products than urban inhabitants of each state. Consequently, those Southern states with the highest portion of total population living on farms and in non-farm rural residences generally have higher per capital rates of consumption when all urbanizations are combined into weighted average rates. As these states experience declin- ing farm and rural non-farm population, the total population may be expected to consume less fluid milk per capital. Manufactured Milk Products.--The consumption of manufactured milk products on a per capital basis showed considerable variation among regions (Table 12). With the exception of evaporated, condensed and dry milks, the South consumed less per capital of products in this group than any other region or the average for the nation. The Southern Region population consumed butter at 50 percent, cheese at 84 percent and frozen dairy products at 77 percent of the United States average rates. Consumption per capital of evaporated and condensed milks was 152 percent and of dry milk 131 percent of the United States average. TABLE 12.--Annual Per Capita Consumption of Manufactured Milk Products, by Regions, 1955 SFrozen Evaporated Region Dairy and Dry Milk : Cheese Butter Products Condensed Milks. Pounds South 58.2 24.4 2.1 8.3 9.9 Northeast 69.7 12.0 1.0 12.0 24.4 Ilorth Central 123.8 6.8 1.0 10.9 25.4 West 83.2 19.8 1.6 10.4 18.7 United States 75.4 16.1 1.6 9.9 19.8 South as percent of United States 77.2 151.6 131.2 83.8 50.0 Source: Calculated from Appendix A, Table 46. The relatively low per capital consumption for most dairy products --both fresh fluid milk and manufactured milk products--has many important implications to all segments of the dairy industry in the region.