In
its
entire
250-year
history,
the
United
States
of
America
has
never
suffered
even
a
single
year-to-year
decline
in
population.
Throughout
the
centuries,
here,
births
and
immigration
have
always
outweighed
deaths
and
emigration.
While
we
slaughtered
each
other
in
the
Civil
War,
our
population
increased.
During
the
Great
Depression,
our
population
increased.
As
we
were
ravaged
by
the
Revolutionary-era
smallpox
epidemic,
the
Spanish
flu
outbreak,
and
the
COVID-19
pandemic,
our
population
increased.
Now,
we
could
be
in,
or
at
least
very
close
to,
our
first-ever
annual
decrease
in
population.
According
to
the
U.S.
Census
Bureau,
from
July
of
2024
to
July
of
2025,
the
population
grew
an
anemic
0.5%.
Rarely
have
America’s
people
added
so
few
to
their
numbers.
Though
growth
was
even
lower
at
0.2%
during
2021,
that
historically
low
rate
can
be
attributed
to
the
pandemic,
which
caused
migration
to
nearly
grind
to
a
halt
in
addition
to
causing
thousands
of
excess
deaths.
We
are
obviously
a
long
way
from
having
a
complete
statistical
picture
for
2026.
However,
the
Census
Bureau’s
already
low
net
immigration
projection
for
the
year
has
already
been
revised
further
downward
by
about
17%.
Fertility
rates
have
been
declining
in
the
U.S.
and
around
the
world
for
a
long
time.
Yet,
they
are
falling
here
even
faster
than
expected.
Last
year,
the
average
number
of
children
an
American
woman
will
have
over
her
lifetime
fell
to
a
record
low
of
1.57.
However,
in
January
of
last
year,
the
Congressional
Budget
Office
had
predicted
U.S.
fertility
would
decline
only
to
1.62
children
per
woman.
Now,
if
there
are
any
MAGA
dopes
out
there
who’ve
somehow
gotten
through
five
paragraphs
of
reading,
they
are
probably
thinking
that
a
decline
in
population
is
good
and
attributable
to
President
Donald
Trump’s
immigration
crackdown.
Well,
deportations
certainly
are
a
factor
in
net
migration.
However,
it’s
not
as
though
Trump
has
deported
that
many
people
historically:
President
Barrack
Obama
deported
more
than
70,000
more
people
during
the
first
year
of
his
second
term
than
Trump
did
last
year.
What
Trump
has
done
is
far
more
impactful
than
just
stepping
up
deportations.
Though
it
can
be
broken
down
into
countless
variables
and
individual
decisions,
what
is
really
going
on
is
not
fundamentally
very
complicated.
People
don’t
want
to
raise
children
here,
and
people
from
other
countries
no
longer
want
to
come
here
to
live
and
work,
as
much
as
they
once
did.
I
myself
am
very
close
to
someone
who
was
literally
bankrupted
by
the
costs
of
giving
birth.
Meanwhile,
parents
can
bring
their
children
into
the
world
for
next
to
nothing
abroad.
Good
luck
paying
for
health
care,
higher
education,
and
housing.
There
are
tons
of
other
places
in
the
world
where
this
stuff
can
be
had
on
the
cheap,
but
here,
you’re
on
your
own.
We’ve
got
pointless
wars
to
finance,
after
all.
Wait
a
second,
isn’t
opportunity
what
immigrants
have
always
come
here
for,
to
chase
the
American
dream?
Well,
although
Elon
Musk
and
a
few
other
immigrants
do
luck
out
occasionally,
the
myth
has
pretty
much
been
busted
at
this
point.
If
you
really
hustle
you
can
probably
get
a
job
in
America
right
now,
but
it
isn’t
likely
to
be
one
that
is
particularly
stable
or
well-paying.
Of
course,
all
the
things
I’ve
brought
up
so
far
are
financial,
and
there’s
more
to
life
than
money.
MAGA
has
ruined
most
of
that
stuff
too.
America
has
become
a
very
unwelcoming
place.
For
example,
it
does
not
attract
the
best
and
brightest
to
send
a
federal
army
of
masked
goons
to
terrorize
left-leaning
cities,
kidnap
anyone
who
looks
vaguely
ethnic,
and
murder
the
U.S.
citizens
who
try
to
intervene.
I
don’t
feel
welcome
in
the
land
of
my
birth,
and
I’m
a
reasonably
well-heeled
white
man.
This
is
because
the
president
of
my
country
says
just
about
every
day
that
people
like
me
—
really,
any
people
other
than
those
enthralled
to
him
—
aren’t
welcome
here.
Then
his
hordes
of
followers
applaud
and
carry
the
harassment
down
into
the
capillaries
of
democracy.
I
can’t
imagine
what
it
must
feel
like
to
be
a
member
of
more
easily
identifiable
targeted
groups.
It’s
necessary,
not
pleasant,
to
resist
America’s
descent
into
authoritarianism.
I
would
never
father
offspring
if
I
thought
they
might
have
to
continue
this
struggle
their
whole
lives.
Oppression
is
oppressive.
The
slowing
U.S.
population
growth,
and
perhaps
decline,
is
concerning
for
a
number
of
reasons.
Chief
among
them
is
why
it
is
happening,
and
this
part
is
pretty
simple.
If
the
U.S.
continues
to
become
a
worse
place
to
live,
then
it
will
ultimately
have
fewer
people
in
it.
Jonathan
Wolf
is
a
civil
litigator
and
author
of Your
Debt-Free
JD (affiliate
link).
He
has
taught
legal
writing,
written
for
a
wide
variety
of
publications,
and
made
it
both
his
business
and
his
pleasure
to
be
financially
and
scientifically
literate.
Any
views
he
expresses
are
probably
pure
gold,
but
are
nonetheless
solely
his
own
and
should
not
be
attributed
to
any
organization
with
which
he
is
affiliated.
He
wouldn’t
want
to
share
the
credit
anyway.
He
can
be
reached
at [email protected].