Decline in U.S population
The decline in the growth of the U.S. population[edit]
There has been a steady decline in the population growth of the United States over the last couple of years. There was an average population growth of 0.9 percent over the years between 2000 and 2010. There was however, a dip in the population growth to 0.7 percent between 2010 and 2011.There was an increase of only 2.3 million people between 2010 and 2011 compared to a yearly increase of 2.9 million people each year from 2000 to 2010. This rate of population growth has been the lowest since the Great Depression of the 1936 and 1937.For example, Youngstown in Ohio has had its population reduced by more than sixty percent from its peak. Despite the general national reduction in the growth of the united states population, there are some states that have continued growing. Utah, for example, has had a population growth of two percent over the same amount of time while Nevada that came up second has had a population growth averaging 1.8 percent over the same amount of time. This is mainly because these two states have not been affected much like the rest of the country by the reason for the slow population growth. The main reasons for this population decrease are the decline in fertility rates in women, the reduced pace of immigration into the country and the majority of the population aging. This trend should make the responsible authorities ask questions and look for the best ways to tackle this. This is because slow rate of population growth has many negative effects on the country both in the economic and employment sector. In fact, slow population growth affects all the areas and sectors of the country.
Reasons for the slow population growth in the USA[edit]
The main reason for the reduction in the reduction in the population growth rate is the reduction in the fertility rates of women. The fertility rate is the average number of children that every woman bears. This number was highest in the 1960s with the average number of children that every woman had been 3.6. This number reduced drastically over a period of twenty years, and by 1976, the fertility rate per woman was 1.7. This started rising gradually, and by 2007 there was an average fertility rate of 2 children per woman. However, this took a dip once more, and by 2015 the average number of children that every woman had was 1.8. This shows a general reduction of the fertility rates in the entire country. This has resulted in fewer and fewer people being born while the death rate remains constant. As a result, the population growth rate has to reduce in order to cater for these factors. Though there have been programs and policies put in place to help improve the fertility rate it is hard to do so. This is because the number of children that a person wants is fully up to them and it is quite hard to change their minds about the entire subject.
Another reason for the low levels of population growth is the fact that most of the population in the United States is aged. According to the population demographics of the United States, in 2015, there is quite a high number of people that are above the ages of fifth. This is quite a high rate as compared to the previous years. These people have passed the childbearing ages, and as a result, they don’t have a lot of kids. There is an also rather increases the rate of death in this group of people. This has resulted in a lower and lower rate of population growth. The government has tried to reduce this by public education on the advantages of getting children before the age of forty. This has however been an uphill task as this is completely up to a person and they can do what they like as they have several choices.
A high number of divorces and people that are not married is also to blame for the low population growth. In the case of divorces couples most of them divorce before they have children and if they do, they have only one. This will generally reduce the number of people being born each year. There is an also high amount of people that are opting not to get married and not to have children. This was unheard of in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This has resulted in a population growth rate that has continued to go down over the years.
Another reason for this is the reduced number of immigrants that are moving to the United States. Over the years there was a high amount of illegal and legal immigrants that were moving into the United States. This was one of the main ways that the population of the country was able to stay afloat. There have been many measures and policies that have been put in place to curb the high number of people that are migrating to the United States. These policies and measures are among others tightening the security all around the border, authorizing the use of the armed forces in border patrol and the mandatory use of E-verify. This has reduced the number of people that are moving into the united states. These people would have settled in the country and have children This would have in turn increased the population.
Effects of low population growth[edit]
The health sector is one of the sectors that has been gravely affected by the low population growth. As stated above, there is a high majority of the population in the country that is aging. This has resulted in a lot of these people needing regular hospital visits and checkups. Some of them are admitted permanently to the hospitals. With the high influx of patients, the health sector has been stretched to its limits. This is because there is a finite amount of resources available to attend to all the patients like the number of doctors and nurses is not nearly enough to cater for the aging and for the normal patients all at once. This has resulted in an increased pressure in the health sector.
Another sector that has felt the effects of the slow population growth is the unavailability of people that can work in the employment sector. The low rate of population increase makes the number of people available to work low as more and more people retire while there are few people to replace them. This makes the country have a shortage of manpower to cater for its huge demand for manpower. This will result in the economy dipping as most industries are not able to perform at their best. There will also be a reduction in the rate of scientific and other important innovations. This is because there will be fewer people to think problems over and come up with solutions.
The markets of the various companies and businesses will also suffer a great deal. The fewer and fewer people being born has resulted in the need for baby products and other products being used by the population to reduce. This, in turn, has reduced the number of people that buy these products. Companies and businesses might end up getting loses and as a result, might wind up their businesses in the United States.
One of the positive effects of a slow rate of population growth is the availability of enough employment opportunities. This is because there is a high number of people that are retiring and leaving the workforce than those that are entering the workforce. This results in more and more employment opportunities which are mostly very lucrative. Another advantage is the abundance of resources. Since there are fewer people that use these public resources, they will be available for anyone that needs them. This will, in turn, increase the living standards of the people in the United States. In conclusion, there is a real urgency in the need to look into the slow rate of population growth. The evidence above shows that there is little to no advantage in the slow rate of population increase that the country is currently experiencing. One of the remedies that I propose is to increase the number of legal immigrants that are migrating into the United States. This will give the population a much-needed boost.
References[edit]
- Boserup, Ester. The conditions of agricultural growth: The economics of agrarian change under population pressure. Routledge, 2017.
- Caswell, Hal. Matrix population models. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2001.
- United States - Death rate - Historical Data Graphs per Year. Retrieved from https://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=us&v=26
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