Children Make Up Less of U.S. Population Than Ever
Children now make up the lowest percentage of the U.S. population according to the 2010 Census Data, even with immigrant families bringing more of them into the country.
The new data suggests that the work force will shrink in the future due to the lack of children, making it harder to support the rapidly growing elderly community in the U.S.
“These are important implications for the future of the U.S. because the increasing costs of providing for an older population may reduce the public resources that go to children,” said Willaim P. O’haire, a senior consultant for the Annie E. Casey foundation, a children’s advocacy group.
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The data also shows that one-in-four people under the age of 18 are children of an immigrant, making them the fastest growing segment of the nation’s youth, leading to the conclusion that immigrants and minority births have boosted the population.
According to the data, the U.S. is made up of 24 percent children, dropping 2 percent from 1990. And with the increase in elderly, the Census expects the share of children to drop to 23 percent by 2050.
In 1900 children made up 40 percent of the population, with only 4 percent of seniors who were 65 or older in the population, a group which experts expect to jump to 20 percent by 2050 due to the aging of the baby boomers.
“These raise urgent questions about whether today’s children will have the resources they need to help care for Americas growing elderly population,” said O’haire in response to that statistic.
Since 2000 the number of children in the U.S. has grown by 1.9 million or 2.6 percent. The growth in numbers is attributed to the immigration of Latino families who tend to have many children.
The data was compiled by the Population Reference Bureau, a nonprofit research group in Washington who study Global and U.S. trends.
