Old people are taking over the world. By the year 2050 it is predicted that one in three Germans, Italians and Spaniards will be 65 years old or more, the Pew Research Center says. In the United States by the same date, 20% of the population will be in that age bracket – but there is no need to panic.
The data from Pew’s research suggests that the United States is going to be in a lot better shape than will be the case for many other countries even with that big jump (20%) from the current statistic of around 13%. The US is actually aging a good deal less rapidly than many other countries, but it is also increasing its population.
Pew says that by 2050 the population of the United States will be 30% larger than it is today, and this combination will assist the country’s economy to keep on churning even after other major economies start to sputter. The secret weapon that will keep the US on top, despite the ageing population, is the same thing that it has always been – immigration. The fact is that immigrants tend to have many more children than US-born women, helping to maintain the relative youthfulness of the country’s population.
Immigrants and their descendants contributed over 50% of the increase in the population of the United States between 1960 and 2005, and will account for growth of around 82% between 2005 and 2050.