London is growing:
Yes, the news is that London is growing. (The Changing Face of London ECONOMIST vol. 402 no. 8769 January 28, 2012 page 56. More people are moving in despite the fact that jobs are scarce. Fewer leave in part because it is harder to sell a place in the present market. And there are more babies. Primary school enrollment it expected to rise dramatically.
Much of the growth is due to increases in the number of children recent immigrants are having. In fact London is contributing 37% of British population growth.
That is a bit surprising. I often say that cities simply do not have the babies; the villages and countryside have the babies. So this is not what I would have expected. The birth rate among immigrants is described as “Stakhanovite.” I had to look that up. It means possessed of surpassing industriousness. The article does not indicate just what the rate is, but I suppose it is very high.
So for now and into the near to middle future the demographic gloom I wallow in will not be visiting London or even the United Kingdom. Down the road I expect that it will be a different matter. And I suppose the secret of those energetic immigrants is due to the fact that they come as kindreds and more or less keep the same mating strategy that they would have practiced in their old home. But I do not have the facts.
I am reminded of a dark joke that circulated at medical school. There was an exchange, “Doctor, will I be better after the brain surgery?” “Well you’ll be different anyway.”
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