The
developed world needs more babies. By 2100, the U.N. predicts that
nearly 30% of the population will be made of people 60 years and
older. Life expectancy also continues to increase steadily, which
means those dependents will be living even longer.
In
a trend that has some demographers worried, the birth
rate
in the United States dropped to its lowest level ever in 2016. The
fact that the all-time low fertility and birth rate puts the
United States population below the “replacement level” — the
balance point between births and deaths at which the population
exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next. If the
fertility rate falls too far below the replacement level, there is a
danger that the nation will lose the ability to replace its aging
workforce, leaving it unable to generate the amount of tax revenue
needed to keep the economy stable, maintain or grow the
infrastructure, and become unable to provide essential government
services. After all, a smaller workforce means fewer contributions to
retirement and social funds.
Fortunately the annual U.S. immigration rate of 13.5% in 2017
compensates for the lower fertility rates.
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