Population Replacement and Immigrant Adaptation : New Issues Facing the West. Impact of Immigration in California, Policy Discussion Paper / Thomas J. Espenshade.

The low fertility of Western industrial nations is likely to become a permanent condition; in the absence of immigration, populations with below-replacement fertility will eventually decline in size. But at the same time fertility is declining, international migration to the West is accelerating. Legal immigration to the United States rose from about 300,000 per year in the early 1960s to more than 570,000 per year in the early 1980s; the United States is now accepting nearly twice as many immigrants and refugees as all other nations combined. Immigration from Third World countries contributes to population growth in the following ways: (1) the addition of the immigrants themselves; and (2) immigrant fertility, which is often higher than native fertility. A stationary population, characterized by a fixed size and an unchanging age-sex structure, is forming in the United States; the indigenous population is diminishing, and a new population of immigrants and their descendants is emerging. This is evidenced by America's Hispanic population, which is growing three times faster than the total population. The potential for further change in the ethnic, racial, and linguistic balances of national populations is perhaps greater in Europe than in the United States. Concerns have been raised that immigrants are failing to adapt to the culture of their new home: increasingly immigrants are the focus of tension and the targets of abuse and violence. Recommendations for public policy are suggested. A list of references is included. (BJV)

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