Low birth rates in the US pose a significant challenge similar to that of illegal migrants

The numbers do not bode well for America.

The nation’s birth rate is now about the lowest it has ever been. 

The total fertility rate in 2023—the number of children American women have over their reproductive lifetimes — is estimated to now be just 1.784. 

This is only slightly above the previous low of 1.77 children set back in 1980, and well below the 2.1 children needed to sustain the current population.  

“Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future,” President John F. Kennedy once said.

Actually, they are the only future a family has, the only future a nation has.

A country whose people do not replace themselves quickly grows older — and poorer.

China’s ongoing demographic collapse is a case in point. 

To make matters worse, while America’s birth rate is languishing, a tsunami of illegal immigrants is pouring into our country.

So many migrants, in fact — thanks to Biden’s open border policies —t hat we are about to set another record. And not the kind worth celebrating.   

This year the number of migrants arriving in America will eclipse the number of children born to Americans. 

Over the past 12 months, between those stopped at the border, those who got away and those arriving legally, at least 3.5 million immigrants have landed on our shores. 

Another 300,000 will be born to illegal migrants.  In contrast, Americans will welcome home only 3.4 million babies.

There is another sign that America not only needs to close the border, but also to get its demographic house in order.

In the past, poor countries would educate doctors and scientists, only to have them legally immigrate to the US where their skills would command a higher price.  

Now we have this brain drain in reverse.

We have millions of poorly educated, low-skilled immigrants competing for menial jobs.

The children they bring with them require years of expensive special language instruction. 

According to the Federation for American Education Reform (FAIR) this is presently costing taxpayers nearly $80 billion a year and growing.

And what about those who come with no understanding of American democratic values and no intention of assimilating? 

The chaos in American and European cities following the Hamas terrorist attacks suggests another danger.

If we want to prevent our country from descending into a maelstrom of warring tribes, we had better do something about it, fast.

Closing the border is easy. 

Easy, that is, if only we had the political will to do it. 

But how do we solve the birth dearth?

To bolster the birthrate, millennials and Zoomers must be encouraged to marry and have children.

But certain obstacles have to be cleared out of the way, including a preference for cohabitation over marriage, huge levels of student debt, and the reluctance of Zoomers to become “adults,” much less have children.

The hookup culture that prevails in most colleges discourages the kind of committed relationships that result in marriage and children. 

Add to this the burden of student loans, the skyrocketing cost of housing — driven up by illegal immigration — and the heavy tax burden imposed by the government, and you have a formula for barrenhood rather than parenthood.

But the primary problem is that we’ve broken the economic link between the generations.

Parents throughout history have raised children — cared for them when they were young and fragile — with the expectation that their children, now adults, would return the favor when they in turn were old and fragile. 

The state has now usurped this function and birth rates have plummeted.

Now I’m not proposing to push Gramma off the cliff, as the Democrats hysterically claim whenever social security is mentioned. 

Promises made to the elderly must be kept. But there is a way of encouraging the young to invest in children, and it’s one created by the Democrats themselves. 

I’m talking about student loans. 

The blanket forgiveness of the $1.75 trillion in total student loans is a nonstarter. 

Those who took them out should pay them back. 

But perhaps postponing student loan payments of those committed to marriage and children would be a good start. 

They might also be sheltered from paying social security taxes while their children are growing up.

After all, such couples are providing for the future of their country in the most fundamental way, by providing for the future generation.

Steven W. Mosher is the president of the Population Research Institute and the author of “Bully of Asia: Why China’s Dream is the New Threat to World Order.”