Falling Birth Rates, the Immigration Crisis, and Biotech

There are deeper demographic issues at the heart of the arguments about immigration, robotics and AI.

In an aerial view, immigrants wait for transport and processing after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas,

by Patrick Cox
January 29, 2016

For months now, the topic of immigration has dominated the news. Limits on immigration appear to be the central issue in upcoming elections across the Western world. While the movement of people between nations has obvious demographic consequences, there are less obvious and deeper demographic issues at the heart of the arguments between those who want more or less immigration.

I think, unlike many Europeans and Asians, most Americans have not yet fully grasped the magnitude of issues created by falling birth rates and growing aged populations. Demographers refer to this phenomenon as “the flipping of the demographic pyramid” because for the first time in history, we are on our way to having more old than young people.

This is less obvious in America because the US birth rate is only slightly below the replacement rate. So the impact of th…