The Center for Immigration
Studies, December 21, 2010
U.S.
Population Up 27 Million in 10 Years
WASHINGTON (December
21, 2010) – Most of the media coverage of the 2010 Census
will likely focus on the country's changing racial composition
and the redistribution of seats in Congress. But neither of these
is the most important finding. Rather, it is the dramatic increase
in the size of the U.S. population itself that has profound implications
for our nation's quality of life and environment. Most of the
increase has been, and will continue to be, a result of one federal
policy: immigration. Projections into the future from the Census
Bureau show we are on track to add 130 million more people to
the U.S. population in the just the next 40 years, primarily due
to future immigration.
Immigration accounted for three-quarters of population growth
during the decade. Census Bureau data found 13.1 million new immigrants
(legal and illegal) who arrived in the last 10 years; there were
also about 8.2 million births to immigrant women during the decade.1
The numerical increase of 27.3 million this decade is exceeded
by only two other decades in American history.
Without a change in immigration policy, the nation is projected
to add roughly 30 million new residents each decade for the foreseeable
future.
Assuming the current ratio of population to infrastructure, adding
roughly 30 each decade will mean:
building and paying for 8,000 new schools every 10 years; developing
land to accommodate 11.5 million new housing units every 10 years;
constructing enough roads to handle 23.6 million more vehicles
every 10 years.
While our country obviously can 'fit' more people, and technology
and planning can help manage the situation, forcing such high
population growth through immigration policy has profound implications
for the environment, traffic, congestion, sprawl, water quality,
and the loss of open spaces.
Forcing population growth also impacts how our democracy functions.
A 27 million increase in the U.S. population increases the number
of constituents a member of the US House must serve by 62,000.
The effect on the state legislatures and local governments is
also considerable.
While immigration is making our population much larger and our
country more densely settled, it has only a modest impact on slowing
the aging of our society. It must be remembered that native-born
Americans, unlike couples in most other developed countries, still
have about 2 children on average.2
Census Bureau data collected earlier this year showed that the
13.1 million immigrants who arrived in the last 10 years, plus
all of the children they had once in the country, have reduced
the average age in the United States slightly, from 37.4 years
to 36.8 years.3
As the Census Bureau stated in its population projections published
in 2000, immigration is a 'highly inefficient' means for addressing
the problem of an aging society in the long run. The updated projections
done in 2008 show the same thing.4
End Notes
1 The public use file
of the March 2010 Current Population Survey collected by the Census
Bureau shows 13.1 million foreign born individuals living in the
United States who arrived in 2000 or later. It also shows 8.3
million children born in the United States to immigrant mothers
over that same time period.
2 The public use file
of the American Community Survey collected by the Census Bureau
from 2006 to 2008 shows that the average U.S.-born woman had 2.01
children. The statistic is referred to as the Total Fertility
Rate.
3 These figures are
based on the public use file of the March 2010 Current Population
Survey.
4 See page 21 of the
methodology and assumptions for the 2000 Census Bureau projections,
Population Division Working Paper No. 38 http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0038.pdf.
# # #
The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent non-partisan
research institution that examines the impact of immigration on
the United States.
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