SAN FRANCISCO–The Population Institute "strongly and unequivocally" endorses the development of a population policy for the United States, Werner Fornos, the President of the organization, announced in an address to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.
"The United States has long encouraged developing countries to establish such policies, yet our own country does not have an official population policy," stated Werner Fornos.
Fornos observed that the current annual population growth rate in the U.S. is "about 3 times greater than the growth rate of the average developed country." In addition to growing at a rate 10 times faster than that of Europe, the U.S. population is increasing more rapidly than some developing nations including South Korea, Singapore Uruguay and Jamaica, he pointed out.
"U.S. population has doubled over the past 60 years," Fornos said. "If it continues to grow at its current rate, it will double again within the next 70 years, to about 540 million, and could reach nearly ONE BILLION PEOPLE by the end of the 21st century."
He pointed out that one "disturbing" factor in our rapid growth is that the United States has the "highest rate of unplanned pregnancies in the industrialized world, as well as the highest teenage pregnancy rate. Eight of 10 teen pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned."
Fornos acknowledged that "immigration is the greatest contributor to U.S. population growth" and that "there are no easy answers to immigration questions." He stated, "Immigration must be viewed among the world’s more difficult population problems. Without debating either the positive or the negative aspects of immigration, I do believe the most tragic aspect of immigration is when people are forced to move from a homeland they love, away from friends and relatives they cherish, because there are simply no employment opportunities in their nation of origin."
Fornos noted that because of U.S. unsustainable levels of resource use, pollution and production of waste, each additional American has "a disproportionate impact on the world’s environment." For example, U.S. population growth is estimated to have an impact on global warming about equal to those of the 2 most populous countries–China and India, both with population surpassing 1 billion–Fornos said.
"If the United States is truly concerned about the global environment, sustainable development and preserving or elevating the quality of life on this planet, we must place a high priority on establishing a national population policy," Fornos concluded.
