Back to home page1993 - VOLUME 48, NUMBER 3
94.13.01 - English - Patricia GOBER
Americans on the Move
Americans move more often than the residents of most other industrialized countries - about 17% of Americans move in a given year. Most people move many times in their lives - but how far, where, and when they move depends upon a myriad of economic, demographic, and social factors. Americans' penchant for moving has allowed them to take advantage of economic opportunities in distant locales or to retire in pleasant environs. High mobility also has social costs, however, such as losing contact with frieds and family, and cutting community ties. In recent decades, some of Americans' patterns of residential mobility and interstate migration have shifted. Mobility levels have dropped slightly, reflecting the aging of the baby boom generation as well as economic recessions. The old pattern of movement from the Midwest and Northeast, to the South and West has been disrupted by the vagaries of boom and bust petroleum-based economies, fiscal crises in former migration magnets, such as California, and by the rebuilding of the economic base in our older industrial cities. Although interregional migration ebbed and flowed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the South remains the region with the most net in-migration. Secondary migration of immigrants and refugees from their sites of entry or initial settlement to ethnic enclaves around the country also affects population distribution and composition. While economic forces probably exert the strongest influence on mobility patterns, future levels of mobility and the direction of migration flows will also depend upon the interplay of the changing age structure, communications and transportation systems, and public policies, such as those affecting retirement, immigration, and housing costs. (UNITED STATES, INTERNAL MIGRATION, GEOGRAPHIC MOBILITY, MIGRATION DETERMINANTS)
1993 - VOLUME 48, NUMBER 4
94.13.02 - English - Frances GOLDSCHEIDER and Calvin GOLDSCHEIDER
Leaving and Returning Home in 20th Century America
Changes in the ages and reasons young adults leave home reflect much about the era in which they reached adulthood. Using new data from the National Survey of Families and Households, the authors trace the patterns in when and why young Americans have left home since the 1920s. In addition to comparing men and women in eight nest-leaving cohorts of young adults, they examined differences by ethnic group, religion, and the educational level of parents. Patterns of leaving home for men and women have generally converged. Prior to World War II, women left home much younger than men, almost always to get married. The age of leaving home fell sharply, to about age 19, for men reaching adulthood during World War II. Ever since, it has remained about the same as for women. The reasons young men and women move out have also converged. For women, marriage has lost importance, while attending school, getting a job, and forming a non-marital family have gained in importance. For men, leaving to "get a job" has receded while leaving for "independence" or to form a non-marital family has surged. Military service was a major route out of the home between the 1940s and 1960s, but it no longer is. The authors found that today's young adults are slower to leave home than any other generation since World War II, but they are no more likely to return home again than their slightly older contemporaries. (UNITED STATES, FAMILY, CHILDREN, DEPARTURES, FAMILY LIFE CYCLE)
1994 - VOLUME 49, NUMBER 1
94.13.03 - English - Wolfgang LUTZ, International Institute. of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg (Austria)
The Future of World Population
The world population will continue to grow; developing countries will account for an increasing share of the world total; and the average age of the population will rise in all geographic regions. Beyond these certainties, there is a wide range of possibilities for the future of world population. The author draws upon the work of demographers and other population specialists to assess past demographic trends in major world regions in order to develop assumptions about future levels of fertility, mortality, and migration. These assumptions are incorporated into a scenario projection methodology used at the IIASA to portray the range of future population size for 12 world regions. Just as projections of future population size depend on basic assumptions about demographic variables, opinions about the optimal size of the world's population depend in part on the relative priority assigned to each of three main dimensions of concern: human rights, socioeconomic development, and global interdependence. The author presents a framework for addressing these concerns when population policies pit proponents of one view against the other. (WORLD POPULATION, POPULATION PROJECTIONS, OPTIMUM POPULATION)
1994 - VOLUME 49, NUMBER 2
94.13.04 - English - Philip MARTIN and Elizabeth MIDGLEY
Immigration to the United States: Journey to an Uncertain Destination
At least one million people move to the United States each year, making immigration an important contributor to the growth and ethnic diversity of the US population. This Population Bulletin examines recent trends in immigration in the light of laws designed to control the type and number of people entering the country. The authors discuss the major policy issues and public debates surrounding US immigration. They also look at the projected demographic impact of current immigration patterns and review evidence of the economic costs of immigrants to native-born Americans. They examine how the foreign-born US residents, especially those who entered in the 1980s, differ from US-born residents. And, by tracing the history of US migration flows and policies, the authors lend valuable perspective to current immigration trends. (UNITED STATES, IMMIGRATION, MIGRATION TRENDS, IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION)
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