Immigrants Are Main Driver Behind Strong US Population Growth, Says New Study

As other First-World and rapidly developing countries in Europe and Asia grow older – and face greater difficulties in funding public pensions for the aging – the United States’ population is slated to grow at a comparatively brisk clip, according to a new Pew Center study. The Center finds that from 2005 through 2050, the population of the US is expected to grow 28 percent. Brazil, a growing economic competitor, will see its population grow by 18 percent. And worries are much more acute in Japan, China and in many European countries, where populations are actually declining and a shrinking workforce will have to support the one-third or greater of its citizens who are over 65.

But Americans aren’t going at it alone: 82 percent of the total increase in the US population from 2005 to 2050, the Pew Center says, will be contributed by immigrants. That’s compared to 51 percent of the increase from 1960 to 2005. The Associated Press notes that the analysis comes as leaders in the House of Representatives, where some lawmakers in the Republican majority favor tighter restrictions on immigration, begin to move on a reform of the nation’s laws. According to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, a bill passed by the Senate in June before stalling in the House would have increased the number of people living in the US by 9.6 million through 2023.

Rakesh Kochhar, a senior researcher at Pew, told the AP that demographic changes taking place over the next several decades "could alter the distribution of global economic power over the coming decades”, saying, "Demographically, at least, America is poised to maintain its global status while many European and East Asian nations shrink either in absolute or relative terms. India and several African nations may benefit from the projected demographic trends," he added. "Immigration is the main reason why population growth in the U.S. will be much greater than in Europe or East Asia."