Population growth in the U.S. has slowed to a historic low. Economic growth can only come from an increase in the labor force or more output per worker. In 2023, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that population growth would average 0.6 percent between 2023 and 2033. In the 1960s and 1970s, population growth was around 1.8 percent and labor force growth topped 2 percent annually.
Institute for Family Studies (IFS) warns that the U.S. population could be headed for decline within the next few decades. Americans want to have 2.4 children per person, but fertility has fallen below 1.6 children per woman, one of the widest gaps between desired and actual family size in modern history. The median age at first marriage increased to 30.8 for men and 28.4 for women, compared to 1975 when the ages were 23.5 and 21.1.
The Baby Boomers are retiring and fewer people are having children. The population of non-whites is declining in much of the U.S., especially in big cities like the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Miami. Nashville and Charlotte added more than 10,000 new white residents last year. Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Atlanta and Phoenix have falling white populations.
The economic backdrop has come under renewed scrutiny after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested Gen Z's frustrations stem in part from "laziness". Today's young people entered adulthood during one of the most challenging economic environments in decades, marked by high inflation, soaring housing costs and a cooling white-collar job market. The median age of a first-time homebuyer will reach a record 38-years-old in 2025.
World Population Day 2026 focuses on empowering youth to shape their futures through education, health, and opportunity. Jean-Emile Jammine speaks with Diene Keita, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) about this global observance.
It's a grim time to be of working age in the year 2100. You have to put up with rising sea levels, rampant rogue AI s and colleagues who still don't know how to mute themselves on a video call. Your take-home pay is meagre and taxes to finance state support for the vast grey population take a bigger chunk of your wage. Health-care spending is growing faster than the economy.
James K. Cooper is responding to Carmel Richardson's article “Boomer–Zoomer Housing War” (May 2026). James and his wife bought a home for $40,000 less than the estimated value, but they are still able to afford it. James is not resentful or envious of their situation.
As China's birth rate plunges to record lows, the country's leaders have responded by offering childcare subsidies, expanded maternity leave, free preschool, and cash incentives for young families. For many Chinese families, the more pressing financial concern lies at the opposite end of the life cycle. Elderly parents lack adequate pension income, so their adult children become their safety net.
This week's episode of The David Frum Show features David's reaction to the recent ICE shooting in Maine. Maya MacGuineas is president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. They discuss the future of Social Security, the mounting national debt, and the political dysfunction preventing Washington from confronting America's fiscal challenges. They also discuss Hilary Mantel's novel A Place of Greater Safety and the lessons one can learn from the terror of the French Revolution.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blames the current economic situation on Baby Boomers. The fact is that the middle class is expanding and real median income has grown across all classes over the past 40 years. The average American family in Mississippi now has a higher per-capita GDP than the average French, British or German family.
Population growth in the U.S. has slowed to a historic low. Economic growth can only come from an increase in the labor force or more output per worker. In 2023, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that population growth would average 0.6 percent between 2023 and 2033. In the 1960s and 1970s, population growth was around 1.8 percent and labor force growth topped 2 percent annually.
Institute for Family Studies (IFS) warns that the U.S. population could be headed for decline within the next few decades. Americans want to have 2.4 children per person, but fertility has fallen below 1.6 children per woman, one of the widest gaps between desired and actual family size in modern history. The median age at first marriage increased to 30.8 for men and 28.4 for women, compared to 1975 when the ages were 23.5 and 21.1.
The Baby Boomers are retiring and fewer people are having children. The population of non-whites is declining in much of the U.S., especially in big cities like the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Miami. Nashville and Charlotte added more than 10,000 new white residents last year. Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Atlanta and Phoenix have falling white populations.
The economic backdrop has come under renewed scrutiny after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested Gen Z's frustrations stem in part from "laziness". Today's young people entered adulthood during one of the most challenging economic environments in decades, marked by high inflation, soaring housing costs and a cooling white-collar job market. The median age of a first-time homebuyer will reach a record 38-years-old in 2025.
World Population Day 2026 focuses on empowering youth to shape their futures through education, health, and opportunity. Jean-Emile Jammine speaks with Diene Keita, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) about this global observance.
It's a grim time to be of working age in the year 2100. You have to put up with rising sea levels, rampant rogue AI s and colleagues who still don't know how to mute themselves on a video call. Your take-home pay is meagre and taxes to finance state support for the vast grey population take a bigger chunk of your wage. Health-care spending is growing faster than the economy.
James K. Cooper is responding to Carmel Richardson's article “Boomer–Zoomer Housing War” (May 2026). James and his wife bought a home for $40,000 less than the estimated value, but they are still able to afford it. James is not resentful or envious of their situation.
As China's birth rate plunges to record lows, the country's leaders have responded by offering childcare subsidies, expanded maternity leave, free preschool, and cash incentives for young families. For many Chinese families, the more pressing financial concern lies at the opposite end of the life cycle. Elderly parents lack adequate pension income, so their adult children become their safety net.
This week's episode of The David Frum Show features David's reaction to the recent ICE shooting in Maine. Maya MacGuineas is president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. They discuss the future of Social Security, the mounting national debt, and the political dysfunction preventing Washington from confronting America's fiscal challenges. They also discuss Hilary Mantel's novel A Place of Greater Safety and the lessons one can learn from the terror of the French Revolution.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blames the current economic situation on Baby Boomers. The fact is that the middle class is expanding and real median income has grown across all classes over the past 40 years. The average American family in Mississippi now has a higher per-capita GDP than the average French, British or German family.