The world’s population is growing fast, and the U.S.’s population is growing faster. Why?
Last year the Pew Research Center released a report predicting that the global population will grow by an astounding 38% by 2050. The world’s population will jump from 6.9 billion to 9.6 billion people. They also predict that the U.S. is on track to grow faster than European and East Asian countries, adding an additional 89 million people on top of our current 321 million.
This week, Pew reported that immigration will drive 88% of the U.S.’s population growth over the next five decades. Yet, half of Americans (49%) polled by Pew were in favor of decreasing current immigration levels while only 15% were in favor of increasing.
Efforts to reform our immigration levels are held hostage by narrow interest groups that have made it a partisan issue instead of a national issue. The only changes being made are increases driven by special interest without any offsets in other immigration categories.
America would be better served to decrease immigration levels in order to curb the kind of population growth that we have neither the environmental nor fiscal resources to support in the long run. Technological advances aside, more people ultimately require basic necessities of land, food, and water. America has in interest to husband these resources for future generations.
Decreasing immigration levels is not about the immigrants themselves; it’s about putting the interests of Americans first. Pew polls show Americans agree.
