In The News

The Straits Times: Aging and Immigration

Vikram Khanna February 6, 2018
Wealthy nations with low fertility rates have aging populations with decreasing numbers of working-age adults. Achieving economic growth and sustained living standards requires increasing fertility, productivity, immigration or increasing numbers of women entering the workforce, suggests Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, as described by Vikram Khanna, associate...

Project Syndicate: The Dangers of Demographic Denial

Adair Turner October 3, 2017
Too many leaders of emerging economies are counting on sizable numbers of young adults to become consumers and fuel growth. But technological advancements could contribute to high rates of unemployment. The term “demographic dividend” is misunderstood, explains Adair Turner for Project Syndicate. “The term was originally used to describe a transition in which countries enjoyed both a one-off...

The Guardian: Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction Event Underway, Scientists Warn

Damian Carrington July 13, 2017
The world’s loss of biodiversity is not proceeding at a gradual pace. Instead, a “biological annihilation” of wildlife signals that a sixth mass extinction is more severe than previously assumed, explains Damian Carrington for the Guardian. The study led by Gerardo Ceballos of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,...

Japan’s Population Outlook and Immigration Talk

April 14, 2017
An April report from Japan’s National Institute of Population and Security Research predicts that the nation’s population will shrink by 30 percent within the next half century unless current government policy aimed at increasing the fertility rate is a rapid success. With a decline of 40 percent, the size of the working population, ages 15 to 64, is forecasted to plunge even further, reports the...

Wanted: Equal Opportunity Globalization

Branko Milanovic November 29, 2016
Populist stances are resonating with dissatisfied voters in the wealthiest places including Europe and the United States. The West has posted low growth rates for its middle class over the past 25 years while the average income growth of a median household in Asia during the same period was about four times as high – Asia still has some catching up to do as income levels and gross domestic...

Prepare for the 21st Century Exodus of Migrants

Joseph Chamie September 27, 2016
Cross-border immigration accounts for much of the population growth in developed countries with low fertility rates. Such immigration has also become an election issue around the globe. Joseph Chamie, former director of the UN Population Division, urges countries to assess demographic changes and engage in thorough planning to provide adequate education, health care, security as well as food and...

Unwanted Migration: How Governments Cope?

Joseph Chamie and Barry Mirkin August 4, 2016
Uncontrolled migration – spurred by a growing populations, fewer resources like water or arable land as well as increasing conflict – has become a contentious political issue, particularly in advanced economies like Europe and the United States, argue demography experts Joseph Chamie and Barry Mirkin. Passions run high as liberals support assistance and an emphasis on human rights of displaced...