“But the pandemic merely magnified preexisting trends. The 2020 Census revealed that the nation’s population grew only 7.4 percent over the previous decade, the country’s second-slowest rate of growth ever, roughly tying the 7.3 percent increase during the Depression-era 1930s. The big baby-boom generation is aging, with its members entering their 60s, 70s and 80s, leading to more deaths among this large cohort. Life expectancy has declined, reflecting the effects of drug abuse, obesity, suicide and other factors that afflict young as well as old. A lower national birthrate means that natural replacement is not keeping pace.
“If it were not for immigration, the picture would be far worse. The bureau found in December that the country’s population rose by 392,665 people — and that 244,622 of them were immigrants. Relying on influxes of people from abroad is an American tradition; immigration accounted for more than half of the country’s population growth between 1965 and 2015. Yet immigration, too, is down, reflecting in part President Donald Trump’s nativist policies.
“Robust population growth not only provides more workers to sustain the young and the old; more people means more of the intellectual exchange, idea creation, entrepreneurship and competition that result from people interacting in a free, capitalist society. National policy should promote vigorous population expansion.
“A more welcoming immigration policy — one that secures the border, while expanding legal immigration — is an obvious start. The federal government should also encourage more childbirth. . . . The federal government should also encourage more childbirth by making it easier to raise children in the United States.
“The United States remains better off than countries such as Japan, which is seeing negative population growth. But complacency, social problems and reactionary politics still threaten the nation’s long-term prospects.” – The U.S. Needs More Immigrants and More Babies, Editorial Board, Washington Post, 2/7/22 [Link]
Fact Check of Above Quote: The Post editorialists suggest that we may soon be running out of people because our population rose “only” rose 7.4 percent between 2020 and 2010. For another perspective, consider that 7.4 percent equals 22.7 million people, a total larger than the population of Florida, our third most populous state. Somehow, the addition of another Florida in ten years does not seem like an impending dearth of people.
Is it true that we must have a large, ever-surging population to prosper? In many ways were more prosperous in the 1960s before mass immigration took off. Back then we had about 200 million people, compared with 330 million today. By the mid Sixties, we had gone for forty years without mass immigration. The consequence was a tight labor market which promoted a strong middle-class economy with good wages. Often during that time, a single breadwinner could support a family.
Mass immigration promoters might reply that our population in the Sixties was younger, and that now as we have aged, we need to import workers. They ignore the fact that advancing automation will significantly reduce the need for workers in the fairly-near future. In any case, immigration is doing little to change the age-profile of this country. Many are older themselves, and their birth rates are not significantly higher than those of American natives.
Probably one reason why America’s birth rate is down is because many Americans don’t see a bright future for our country. Among the consequences are the “drug abuse, obesity and suicide” noted in the Post editorial. In contrast, the optimism after World War II preceded a baby boom. Something profoundly demoralizing Americans today is the chaos of multicultural diversity brought about by mass immigration. Without this oppressive influence our confidence would rise, along with our salaries—which would make it easier for us to afford children,
Sheer numbers don’t guarantee prosperity. If they did, Bangladesh would be one of the richest countries on earth. Increasing population will increase a country’s GDP, but the true measure of wealth is per capita GDP, not its total. The Center for Immigration Studies notes that “Among all developed countries, the correlation between population growth and per capita economic growth was actually negative between 2010 and 2019.”
Economic considerations aside, do we really want the crowding, sprawl, and environmental stress that soaring population growth will bring? At some point we need to put the brakes on growth. Otherwise, the gross overcrowding of China and India today will be our tomorrow.