How Does Immigration Impact Population Growth?
The nation’s ongoing debate over the number of legal and illegal immigrants entering the country each year has raised legitimate questions about the sustainability of current U.S. immigration policies and the size of nation we wish to become. [Continued below]
Dr. Albert Bartlett, Professor Emeritus of Physics
University of Colorado, Boulder
Although political sensitivity has often curtailed the discussion of the impact that immigration has on U.S. population size, the fact is that immigration accounts for 63% of our nation’s population growth. For over 30 years, immigration has served as the largest contributor to the increase in U.S. population. As a direct result of its immigration policies, the United States is now the third most populous nation in the entire world and grows at a rate of more than twice that of China. In fact, the United States has the fastest population growth of any industrialized nation, and is surpassed only by India and Nigeria.
Projections issued by the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that over the next 50 years the United States is set to add an additional 167 million more to its population, with 105 million resulting solely due to immigration. This projection is an increase of more than 55% of the U.S. population today.
The United States currently adds 1.25 million immigrants (net) to its population every year. Without a return to more traditional levels of immigration, somewhere in the neighborhood of 300,000 per year, U.S. population is slated to increase from 307 million today to 468 million by the year 2060.
Public opinion polls demonstrate that stabilizing the size of U.S. population is a concept that most Americans are willing to embrace. Whether America achieves a sustainable population will be determined by the responsibility of the actions we take as a nation. In order to attain the goal of population stability, the U.S. must take control of its immigration system by implementing policies having a positive impact on U.S. population growth. This goal can be reached only by curtailing large-scale immigration and ending the policies of chain-migration, which serve as the source of our rampant growth.
