VOA慢速英語：移民維持美國生育率不至于下降

移民維持美國生育率不至于下降

In the United States, immigrants are keeping birth rates from dropping.

移民們正在維持美國的出生率免于下降。

That information comes from a new study. The Pew Research Center, an independent research group, reported the finding.

該信息出自一項新的研究。皮尤研究中心是一家獨立的研究組織，該組織報告了這一發(fā)現(xiàn)。

According to the study, U.S.-born women gave birth to 3.10 (million) babies in 2014. That is down from the 3.46 million born in 1970.

根據(jù)這項研究，2014年生于美國的女性生下了310萬個嬰兒，低于1970年生育的346萬人次。

Since that year, births to immigrant women have jumped by more than 300 percent. It reached 901,000 births in 2014.

自那年起，移民女性的生育人數(shù)增長了300%以上，2014年生育人數(shù)達到了90.1萬。

More Babies Born to Asian Immigrants

更多嬰兒由亞洲移民所生

Pew's researchers say more than half of the foreign-born mothers are from nine countries and one U.S. territory. Those countries include Mexico, China, India, El Salvador, Guatemala, and the Philippines. Also on the list are Honduras, Vietnam, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

皮尤研究中心的研究人員表示，一半以上在外國出生的母親來自9個國家和一處美國領(lǐng)地。這些國家包括墨西哥、中國、印度、薩爾瓦多、危地馬拉和菲律賓。此外還有洪都拉斯、越南、多米尼加共和國以及波多黎各(美國領(lǐng)地)。

Asian immigrants now represent 22 percent of U.S. births by foreign women, up from 16 percent in 2010, the Pew study found.

皮尤研究中心的這項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，亞洲移民占到了在美國生育的外國女性的22%，高于2010年的16%。

It is not just that there are more immigrant women living in the United States. Foreign-born women are having more children than U.S.-born women, Pew said.

皮尤研究中心表示，這不僅僅是因為有更多移民女性居住在美國，還因為在外國出生的女性比在美國出生的女性生育更多孩子。

In 2014, there were 58.3 births for every 1,000 U.S.-born women of childbearing age. The number is 84.2 per 1,000 foreign-born women.

在2014年，每1000名在美國出生的育齡婦女生下了58.3個孩子，而每1000名在外國出生的育齡婦女生下了84.2個孩子。

Birth Rates Down Generally

出生率普遍下降

Birth rates for both U.S.-born and foreign-born women are down since 1970. But the 2014 rate for foreign-born women is similar to the rate for U.S.-born women 40 years ago, Pew said.

皮尤研究中心表示，在美國出生和在外國出生的婦女的生育率從1970年開始都有所下降。但是2014年在外國出生的婦女的生育率和40年前的在美國出生的婦女的生育率接近。

The drop in total fertility rates has been sharp since the economic recession of 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The term total fertility rates mean how many children the average woman will have in her lifetime.

美國人口普查局表示，自2008年經(jīng)濟危機以來，總生育率急劇下降。總生育率是指平均每名婦女一生之中會生下多少個孩子。

Among immigrant women, the fertility rate dropped from 2.7 in 2008 to 2.2 in 2014, the Census Bureau said. For American-born women, the rate dropped from 2.1 to 1.8.

美國人口普查局表示，移民婦女的總生育率從2008年的2.7下降到了2014年的2.2。而在美國出生的婦女的總生育率從2.1下降到了1.8。

According to the Pew report, 51 percent of foreign-born mothers spent at least 11 years in the United States before having a baby. Just nine percent had arrived less than two years earlier, it said.

根據(jù)皮尤研究中心的報告，51%在外國出生的婦女在生育前至少已經(jīng)在美國呆了11年，只有9%在外國出生的婦女到美國不到兩年就生育。

The report found that 275,000 babies were born to undocumented immigrants in 2014.

該報告發(fā)現(xiàn)，2014年有27.5萬名嬰兒是由非法移民所生。

William Frey is with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. If it were not for immigrants, Frey said, the U.S. birth rate would be much lower and that could result in shortages of workers.

威廉·弗雷(William Frey)就職于華盛頓布魯金斯學(xué)會的大都市政策項目組。弗雷表示，若不是移民，美國的出生率會更低，這會導(dǎo)致勞動力短缺。

"My view is that we actually need more young people in this country and that immigrants and their children are going to fill that need," Frey said.

弗雷表示，“我的看法是，美國需要更多年輕人，而移民和他們的孩子將會填補這種需求。”

Steven Camarota is director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington. The center supports calls to limit immigration.

史蒂文·卡馬羅塔(Steven Camarota)是華盛頓移民研究中心的研究主任。該中心支持限制移民的呼吁。

Camarota said it is true immigrants are generally young. That means they can fill jobs and help support programs that provide health and retirement assistance for older Americans.

卡馬羅塔表示，移民一般都很年輕，這是事實。這意味著他們可以填補工作崗位，并幫助維持為美國老年人提供醫(yī)保和退休金的項目。

Those retirement programs are projected to run short of money in coming years as more Americans grow older and leave the workforce.

這些退休項目預(yù)計在未來幾年將會缺少資金，因為越來越多美國人變老并離開職場。

But Camarota said immigrants also generally earn less money than native-born Americans and, as a result, use more social welfare programs. That takes tax money away from other services, he said.

但是卡馬羅塔表示，移民一般來說也比本土出生的美國人賺得少，因此會占用更多的社會福利項目。他說，這剝奪了用于其它服務(wù)的稅款。

He added that lower birth rates for immigrants are offset by higher yearly immigration totals.

他補充說，移民的低出生率被更高的年度移民總數(shù)所抵消。

Fewer Unmarried Women Having Babies

未婚生子減少

The Pew Research Center report also reported a drop in the percentage of births to unmarried foreign-born mothers. It is down from 37 percent in 2008 to 33 percent in 2014.

皮尤研究中心的這份報告還稱，在外國出生的未婚媽媽的生育百分比有所下降，該百分比從2008年的37%下降到了2014年的33%。

At the same time, the rate has held steady for U.S.-born women, Pew reported. It now stands at 42 percent.

皮尤研究中心表示，與此同時，對于在美國出生的婦女來說，這一比例保持了穩(wěn)定，該比例目前為42%。

I'm Bruce Alpert.

布魯斯·阿爾伯特報道。