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The 2020 Census figures in the US show the nation’s population growth was just 7.4 per cent, compared to the growth in the last decade (2000-2010). This is almost equal to the slowest growth ever, that is 7.3 per cent, seen during the era of Great Depression in 1930. The data also found that the year 2021 was the year when the US witnessed the slowest population growth rate – that is only by 0.1 per cent – in the country’s history.
Covid-19 pandemic surely exacerbated the slower growth as the disease killed about half a million people. Indirectly, it killed many others because those suffering from other maladies could not get the required care from overburdened hospitals or clinics. On the other hand, fewer babies were born amid economic uncertainty and public health concerns during the pandemic. Moreover, fewer migrants settled down in the country partly due to the former president Donald Trump’s less friendly immigration policy.
But despite the fact, 62 per cent of the population growth happened due to immigration by the end of 2021. Immigrants constituted 14.1 per cent of the US population, approaching the highest (14.8 per cent), seen in 1890 when Europeans arrived in hordes.
As the baby-boom generation ages and there are more deaths of older Americans, the population growth rate is expected to fall more. Low fertility of the new generation and aversion to bear children is likely to carry on the decline in birth rate — just like in prosperous nations of Europe and Japan. The falling birth rate will affect the country’s prosperity due to acute labour shortage in most fields of business.
In this situation, a more flexible immigration policy to accommodate talented and skilled foreigners can address the future crisis. Temporary work visas for legal workers in the short term, and student visas to attract more international talent, especially in the field of science and technology, can also be a solution.
READ MORE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/07/us-needs-more-immigrants-more-babies/
https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/589178-for-the-foreseeable-future-immigration-will-fuel-us-population-growth?rl=1
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/05/us/immigration-census-population.html