immigration is only a temporary stopgap; fertility is already fairly low everywhere except Africa, where it’s falling at an accelerating pace. In 1990 the avera

immigration is only a temporary stopgap; fertility is already fairly low everywhere except Africa, where it’s falling at an accelerating pace. In 1990 the average African woman was expected to have 6 children in her lifetime; today that’s down to 4, and the drop is accelerating. In other words, it’s not just China. Every single country on Earth is either having to deal with population aging, or soon will have to deal with it. Yeap, I've been making this point for a while. A lot of developed countries (NZ, Canada, Australia) rely on high population growth - mostly immigration - to 'grow' the economy. The amount of jobs and income streams that are only a couple of degrees separated at best from "large numbers of people come here to visit or settle" is pretty staggering.