Immigration destroyed the Roman Empire. Now it could bring down Europe

Immigration destroyed the Roman Empire. Now it could bring down Europe

It seems that social media has unearthed yet another dirty secret about the common male: they think about the Roman Empire far more than the fairer sex ever dreamed. With more than 10,000 migrants arriving on the Italian island of Lampedusa in a single week – a figure which dwarfs the island’s resident population of 6,000 – it’s not just men who are beginning to feel as though we’re living through the Fall of Rome 2.0. While the Romans were swamped by barbaric German hordes, ageing modern Europe might be sunk by too many millions of people seeking to participate in the high living standards and guaranteed incomes afforded by the European system
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The root of our modern immigration problem lies at the intersection of demography and institutions. In 1950, the population of Europe was about 550 million, while the population of Africa was 220 million. Today, the population of Europe is 750 million, while Africa’s surges towards 1.5 billion. The Middle East has witnessed similar levels of population growth in recent decades. This is no one’s fault: Europe’s population went through a similar ballooning phase 100 years ago and it’s simply what happens when modern medicine and technology are introduced to a society. In the long run, the populations of Africa and the Middle East will plateau, just like Europe’s did. But in the short run, this will put enormous pressure on Europe’s ability to cope.

While we cannot control demography, institutions and policy offer a little more hope, at least in theory. The European Union was cemented during the neoliberal euphoria of the later 1980s and 90s, before the demographic changes south and east of Europe became quite so apparent. In hindsight, it seems ridiculous that a country would sign away its ability to police its borders, at the same time that it was effectively required to provide lifelong healthcare and welfare benefits to anyone who managed to claw their way ashore – and their extended family besides.

Given the fact that the lands south and east of the EU have decades to go before their GDPs reach European levels, it behoves us to give our immigration policies a good hard think.

But if, as Douglas Murray and others have warned, woke bureaucrats continue to see this as a question of knuckle-dragging racism and xenophobia rather than what it truly is – a question of living standards and the inescapable practicality of shared values for ordering a society – then it is only a matter of time before our own populations decide that the price we pay for civilisation simply isn’t worth it anymore.

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