Of all the charts and graphs we’ve shown in the HOTLINE, these may be the scariest.

The CDC just released data showing that the number of children an average woman in the United States will have over her reproductive lifetime fell to 1.57 in 2025. Replacement level is 2.1.  This is the lowest rate in at least 75 years and maybe ever.

That’s bad enough, but much worse is that nearly all forecasters project that this low birth rate will be the new norm for the next several decades. This Pew chart shows the U.N.’s flatline forecast:

These kinds of projections are often wrong – remember, only 50 years ago, the demographers were predicting a Malthusian population bomb.

What is for sure is that great nations with declining populations become declining empires.

Fortunately, through immigration of young people, America is the one country that can counter falling birth rates – a phenomenon that’s happening all over the globe except in Africa. It’s one of many reasons immigration remains America’s greatest comparative advantage.

Why young people aren’t making babies these days is a great mystery. It’s fun. Martha and the Vandelas had the best advice: “Come on, every guy, grab a girl.”