Two Timely Articles on Immigration and Aging Population Trends to Share

Steven A. Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, wrote a timely article in National Affairs challenging a popular notion that immigration is a magic elixir for an aging America:

"Demographers have known for a long time that, absent truly gargantuan and ever-increasing rates of immigration, it isn't actually possible for immigrants to undo or dramatically slow the overall aging of society.

...The reason behind this truth is simple: Immigrants are human beings, not just the idealized workers or child-bearers that some commentators imagine. As humans, they immigrate at all ages, grow old over time, and are choosing to have smaller families. As a result, they add to the population across the age distribution and do not fundamentally change the nation's age structure.

...One can advocate for immigration for any number of reasons, including the fact that immigrants themselves benefit greatly by coming here. But it is simply dishonest, and therefore irresponsible, to claim that immigration will address the fiscal and other challenges of an aging society that maintains an enormous welfare state for the elderly."

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, echoes Camarota in the National Review saying mass immigration is not the answer to address structural challenges posed by aging:

"In debating how to address the challenges posed by an aging society - which every developed country, and even most developing countries, are facing - we should at least make sure we're considering options that have some possibility of success. Mass immigration, whatever other justifications there may be for it, offers no such possibility."

Share both articles and submit letters using the buttons below.

Thank you for your dedication in all that you do.