US Has Slowest Population Growth Rate In A Century As Births Decline
Source: The Guardian
Increasing deaths and the slowdown of migration also contributed to slowest growth rate since first world war. The past years population growth rate in the United States was the slowest in a century due to declining births, increasing deaths and the slowdown of international migration, according to figures released Monday by the US Census Bureau.
The US grew from 2018 to 2019 by almost a half per cent, or about 1.5 million people, with the population standing at 328 million this year, according to population estimates. Thats the slowest growth rate in the US since 1917 to 1918, when the nation was involved in the first world war, said William Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
For the first time in decades, natural increase the number of births minus the number of deaths was less than 1 million in the US due to an aging population of Baby Boomers, whose oldest members entered their 70s within the past several years. As the large Boomer population continues to age, this trend is going to continue.
Some of these things are locked into place. With the aging of the population, as the Baby Boomers move into their 70s and 80s, there are going to be higher numbers of deaths, Frey said. That means proportionately fewer women of child bearing age, so even if they have children, its still going to be less. Four states had a natural decrease, where deaths outnumbered births: West Virginia, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. For the first time this decade, Puerto Rico had a population increase...
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/30/us-population-growth-census-2020
..Immigration is a wildcard in that it is something we can do something about, Frey said. Immigrants tend to be younger and have children, and they can make a population younger.
10 states that had population declines in the past year include: NY, lost almost 77,000 people; IL, lost almost 51,000 residents; WV, lost more than 12,000 people; LS, lost almost 11,000 residents; and CT, lost 6,200 people. MS, HI, NJ, AK and VT each lost less than 5,000 residents.
The south saw the greatest population growth from 2018 to 2019, increasing 0.8% due to natural increase and people moving from others parts of the country. The north-east had a population decrease for the first time this decade, declining 0.1% due primarily to people moving away.
The new population figures also provide a look at the states that may gain or lose congressional seats from next years apportionment process following the 2020 Census; 435 US House seats are decided among the 50 states based on population.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,902 posts)by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbetson is eye-opening. Population declines are happening in a lot of places around the world. Currently the loss is invisible because of things like immigration. But in the long run, the world population will start to decline, and probably sooner than experts currently think.
OnlinePoker
(5,727 posts)NutmegYankee
(16,201 posts)killaphill
(212 posts)With a declining population, there aren't enough younger taxpayers to fund benefits for an increasingly older population. So the only options are to significantly raise social security taxes, cut benefits, or raise the retirement age. Its just basic math.
Kaleva
(36,354 posts)Magoo48
(4,720 posts)Boomer
(4,168 posts)Literally. The fewer humans the better. If only this was a global trend as well.
jeffreyi
(1,945 posts)A thought provoking read. According to the authors, who are Canadian, the populations in the "developed" societies are aging fast, and they should encourage immigration to augment the younger component. This in order to maintain economic stability. The authors are really focussed on human societies and economics, the natural world not so much.
progressoid
(49,999 posts)Sloumeau
(2,657 posts)The fewer the people, the more the earth can heal.
oldsoftie
(12,615 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,632 posts)Maxheader
(4,374 posts)fewer co2 emissions...
jgmiller
(395 posts)Earth will take care of itself, it has been doing that for eons, it's us humans that care about the planet that you have to worry about. The earth is an intergrated system that we are only just beginning to understand, we're polluting the planet and causing climate change but the planet will correct for that in many ways and one of them will be by reducing the human population. It won't be fun for us but over tens or hundreds of thousands of years things will work out.
Politicub
(12,165 posts)I dont think many people consider that their kids will be subjected to global warming and a capitalist system that is close to its breaking point.
mahina
(17,705 posts)Not all. Many.
jcmaine72
(1,773 posts)It's one of the few areas in which we are still setting a positive example for the rest of the world to follow.
jayfish
(10,039 posts)To me it looks like the slow march towards Idiocracy continues.
KYBlue
(26 posts)I know many young people that have so much medical and student loan debt that they can't even think about having children.
TheFourthMind
(343 posts)USA! USA! USA!