'We are younger than our competitors, and this is entirely because of immigration.
We're not sure what a sexy argument for immigration reform would sound like, but President Barack Obama admitted that one he offered last week was a bit on the wonky side. 'It's not a sexy argument to make to the public, but we are younger than our competitors, and that is entirely because of immigration,' Obama told a group of business executives. 'And when you look at the problems that China, Japan, Europe, Russia, are all going to have, a lot of it just has to do with their getting old. And we stay young because were constantly being replenished by these striving families from around the world. And we should want that to continue.' We agree that this argument isn't sexy. But is it accurate? The age of the population is important to a country because taxes generated by incomes of young workers support health care costs and Social Security benefits for those who are no longer working. We'll take his claim in two parts. U.S. vs its competitors Is the United States younger than its competitors? 'Competitors' is a loose term, but judging by the countries Obama listed, he's comparing the United States to other large economies. There are a few ways we can determine whether a country is 'young.' We can compare median ages between countries. Or we can look at the percentage of the population that falls between certain age groups. Finally, we can look at demographic projections for what their age breakdown will be at a point in the future. Let's take the top 15 countries by gross domestic product (GDP) and use the various models to compare their ages.
Our ruling Obama said, 'We are younger than our competitors, and this is entirely because of immigration.' The United States is considerably younger than key European countries and Japan, but its age structure is largely similar to China and Russia. Brazil and India, which are best described as emerging but still developing competitors, have substantially younger populations. His main point - that immigration is driving America's relative youth - is largely accurate. The United States is home to more immigrants than any other country, and many of them are younger and reproduce at higher rates than do native-born Americans. Without its immigration levels, the U.S. would look much more like Europe in its age structure. The statement is accurate but needs additional information, so we rate the statement Mostly True.
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