Population Growth

Is anyone really surprised by SCAG’s new population growth projections for Southern California (July 23)? They shouldn’t be. California’s population has doubled roughly every 25 years for the last century, a growth rate that more closely resembles Third World countries than a developed nation. And we have the highest fertility rate of any state in the nation.

The predictions of persistent high unemployment, infrastructure problems and declining standard of living shouldn’t surprise anyone either. That these ills go hand-in-hand with high population growth is obvious to anyone who has watched as population growth erodes the quality of life in Southern California. Currently, California must build schools for 800 more students every day and find water, housing and jobs for an additional 600,000 residents per year. About half this growth occurs in Southern California.

California’s population growth problem is not unique. The U.S. is the world’s fastest growing industrialized nation. The decay of our cities, failure of our education system to keep up with other nations, environmental ills, extinction of species, and our roller-coaster economy are all caused, in part, by a failure to address the issue of population growth.

We have a lot to gain by making population stabilization a national goal. Increasing the availability of family planning coupled with more realistic (lower) limits on immigration are all that is needed.

JAMES BRUCKER

Los Angeles