PIP: The example of Swedish demography offers a contemporary insight into population growth or decline. In addition to the numerical increase due to the arrival of immigrants, migration can have an indirect effect on a country's population growth due to the arrived immigrants' subsequent natural fertility. Some very interesting differences also can often be observed in the births and deaths between the native born and immigrant populations. This phenomenon is particularly striking in the case of Sweden. In 1970 Sweden's population was growing at nearly 1% per year (9.83/1000), a relatively rapid pace by today's standard. Since 1970, the growth rate dropped steadily, down to only 0.1% in 1981. The main reason for the slowed population growth has been the decline in the birthrate, from 14/1000 population to the 11.3-11.7 range since 1976. At the same time, the death rate rose from 10 to 11. Gains in life expectancy have been outweighed by the increasing proportion of the elderly. During the 1970s the rate of net migration fluctuated considerably. It dropped from a high rate of 6/1000 in 1970 to -1.5 in 1972. 1972 and 1973 are the only postwar years in which Sweden experienced a net outflow. The rate rose again to 2.89 in 1977, falling to 0.3 in 1981, the latest year for which data are available. Starting in 1975 the components of Sweden's population change began to exhibit a remarkable aspect: population growth due to migration exceeded that due to natural increase. This had not occurred previously. Close examination reveals that the gain due to natural increase had become dependent upon the natural increase of the immigrants. Births of Swedish citizens, which had exceeded deaths by 22,000 in 1971, fell until natural decrease appeared in 1976. That gap has been growing wider ever since, to -6100 in 1982. A growing number of immigrants have been attaining Swedish citizenship, but the category of "citizen" is still the virtual equivalent of "native born." At the end of 1981, 96% of Swedish citizens were born in Sweden. Hence, native born Swedes have been increasingly unable to reproduce themselves, and their numbers have declined since the late 1970s. The natural increase of the aliens has remained rather high, staying above 8000 annually for the past decade. If it were not for this contribution to growth from aliens, Sweden's population would be decreasing overall. Part of the difference between the 2 populations is due to age structure of the aliens. In 1980, 17% of the citizens were age 65 or older, but only 2% of the aliens were. Swedish citizes also have been outmigrating since at least the early 1960s.