Census Bureau: 75 Million More Immigrants by 2060, 95% of Future US Growth

The Census Bureau is projecting that the population of the United States will hit 404 million by 2060, and nearly all of the net growth will be from immigrants and their families.

A new analysis of the figures shows that of the 79 million more in 2060, 75 million will be legal and illegal immigrants and their families, a population the size of France and Belgium combined.

Without immigration, according to the Census analysis from the Center for Immigration Studies, the U.S. population would increase by just 3.7 million, the latest sign that the country is on a path to zero native population growth.

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Concerns that America won’t produced enough new citizens on its own has alarmed some politicians who have advocated for expanding immigration so that there are enough younger workers to fill jobs in the figure.

But the CIS analysis, from Steven Camarota the Center’s director of research and lead author of the report, said that the age of the population won’t be significantly impacted, or lowered, from younger immigrants.

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“In contrast to immigration, a small increase in the retirement age can have a larger impact on the work-age share of the population, without the implications for the environment and quality of life that may come from a much larger population,” he said.

Camarota’s report concluded, “The debate over immigration should not be whether it makes for a much larger population — it does. The debate over immigration should also not be whether it has a large impact on increasing the working-age share of the population or the ratio of workers to retirees — it does not. {snip}”