Why We Don’t Need One Billion Americans

The population of the United States is 340 million. That of China is 1.4 billion. This leads some to suggest the United States needs more people in order to be competitive on technology, innovation, and beyond, whether through continued mass immigration or some type of deeper integration with allies. A recent essay in Foreign Affairs magazine made this point explicitly, saying, “This is an era in which strategic advantage will once again accrue to those who can operate at scale. China possesses scale, and the United States does not—at least not by itself.”