An article was released by Pew Research highlighting the top 10 demographic shifts happening right now. While I won’t go too indepth on everything, I do want to discuss a few of the top issues brought to light.
PS: You can check out the full list by clicking on the link below:
10 demographic trends shaping the U.S. and the world in 2017
The demographic findings are very interesting and cover Millennials, Baby Boomers and the global shift among generations. For starters, in 2016, “there were an estimated 79.8 million Millennials (ages 18 to 35 in that year) compared with 74.1 million Baby Boomers (ages 52 to 70). The Millennial population is expected to continue growing until 2036 as a result of immigration.” This means that for the first time in a while, Baby Boomers are no longer the largest population in America.
The big reason is immigration. There are three points in the Millennial population that many people (particularly in the Political sphere) over look.
- Immigrants are the driving force behind workforce growth in America: According to Pew Research “Without immigrants, there would be an estimated 18 million fewer working-age adults in the country in 2035”
- Children born to immigrant mothers is having a positive impact on the overall birth rate of the US
- The U.S. unauthorized immigrant population fell in 2015 to below recession levels, and the share of Mexicans within this population declined. This means that illegal immigration is, and has been dropping for some time. So do we really need a wall if immigration is already nearing record lows?
It also looks as if immigration will change over time as well. According to the article “Globally, babies born to Muslim mothers will outnumber babies born to Christian mothers by 2035 – largely driven by different fertility rates.” This means that over time, the religion of Islam may in fact be the majority religion throughout the world. In addition it is also very likely that the future of American immigration is religion focused with Muslims leading the way instead of Mexicans.
Another fact that is not on the demographic chart, but one I believe will be a future issue is the increase in Artificial Intelligence. To me this is the most under prepared for change for the future of our world that will do more to impact demographics than anything else over the next 50 years. But for now, the focus is changes and growths in all ethnic populations outside of whites / Europeans.
