Immigration Issue May Solve Itself

Interesting article @ TCS Daily on the demographics south of the border - the fertility rate of Latin America is dropping through the basement, leading one to believe that the immigration problems on our southern border may wind up solving itself over the next decade or two. Of course, that still doesn't substantially address the problems we are experiencing today.


"There has been a stunning decline in the fertility rate in Mexico, which means that, in a few years there will not be many teenagers in Mexico looking for work in the United States or anywhere else. If this trend in the fertility rate continues, Mexico will resemble Japan and Italy - rapidly aging populations with too few young workers to support the economy. According to the World Bank's 2007 Annual Development Indicators, in 1990 Mexico had a fertility rate of 3.3 children per female, but by 2005, that number had fallen by 36 percent to 2.1, which is the Zero Population Growth rate. That is an enormous decline in the number of Mexican infants per female."

In effect, the addition of women to the work force in Latin America is having the same effect on these nation's demographic makeup that the US and Europe have experienced. As female work participation grows, and educational and job opportunities expand, these women have fewer children than gthe previous generation. Very interesting.