BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 26, 2023
Maine’s birthrate has dropped so low that we started to see more deaths than births 12 years ago. A full 21.7 percent of our population is now aged 65 and older. The pressure this will create on the state budget in the next several decades will be overwhelming. Is there a way out of this demographic nightmare? In Maine, media outlets have been calling for increased immigration for years, claiming that it is the solution to many of our problems, particularly our stubborn workforce shortages. Some of that hoped-for migration has taken place recently. Maine saw an unexpected spike in population, gaining a net 22,999 residents between April 1, 2020 and July 1, 2022. But our birth rates will continue to fall in Maine. At a certain point, the current political debates will reverse themselves, and we’ll start wondering “where have all the people gone?” ~ Matthew Gagnon