In an analytical article, Foreign Policy magazine addressed one of the most prominent problems facing Western societies, which is the dilemma of demographic imbalance, and the extent of its impact on the lives of people in Europe and North America.
One common denominator links pension reform in France, elderly care robots in Italy and child labor in Arkansas in the United States: fear of immigration.
Howard W. French questions the connection between France, which has been plagued by protests against pension reform proposed by President Emmanuel Macron, with what he calls Italy's "desperate" transformation into robots, or the exploitation of child labor by factories in the United States.
He attributed this to the harsh demographic realities that France is forced to adapt to, putting enormous pressure on social security and pension systems and raising questions.
French, a columnist for the magazine who is also a professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, believes France's problem is in part that its people live longer, unlike Americans, whose life expectancy is falling sharply.
Living longer means that many need to rely on state financial support for longer, which in turn causes steadily increasing financial pressure on the state. This is the case for Italy and other European countries.
In rich countries that are beginning to face the threat of a demographic dilemma, few have begun to look for other areas to alleviate the impending financial problems that radical demographic shifts will bring.
The solution lies in opening the door to immigration
French said he believes Western societies will do their best to avoid the "easiest and most humane" solution: opening up migration to young people from parts of the world, particularly from Africa.
By opening the door to migration, two birds can be killed with one stone, because allowing more people to participate in the global economy helps them achieve economic security and improve themselves, as well as contributes to the financial stability and general prosperity of the places to which they migrate.
The ugly irony is that the world's largest reserves of young, vibrant and ambitious workers are in Africa, where the average age is only 19.7, "alienating the rich" in the West.
But in a world where Africans make up the vast majority of its youth, the question that will increasingly confront Europeans is whether holding on to their subjective identities, which are closely linked to their white race, is more important than economic growth, prosperity and competition with China, the West's "current obsession," or perhaps even economic survival.
French again questions whether wealthy Europeans and Americans will be able to overcome their aversion to Africans, who may hold the key to their economic salvation, and embrace them as human beings just like themselves.
He concludes by saying that the future of Western societies will depend on African immigrants to solve the economic dilemmas plaguing Europe and the United States.