By McKenzie Romero | Editor
Utah’s large families are getting smaller as the state joins a nationwide slide toward fewer births and a growing aging population that needs cared for.
This demographic imbalance can have dire economic consequences, and the Beehive State won’t be immune. In a roundtable discussion about Utah’s demographic dilemma hosted by the conservative Sutherland Institute, an effective strategy to offset the trend rose to the top: immigration.
In today’s Dispatch we share how refugees and immigrants can help stabilize Utah’s demographic shifts, what new research says about wildfire smoke and schools, and differing death tolls in the nation’s measles outbreaks.
“While the U.S. welcomes refugees in an effort to sustain American values, freedom, liberty, democracy, the refugee program is as much a demographic and an economic program as it is a humanitarian one; America’s return on investment in refugee resettlement is proven.” — Olivia Whiteley, director of strategy for Reliable Refuge, on the important roles refugees play in U.S. communities.
Homes in North Salt Lake are pictured on Monday, July 15, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
By Alixel Cabrera
Olivia Whiteley, director of strategy for Reliable Refuge, said during the Sutherland Institute demographics event that the United States has long relied on international migration to sustain its population, secure its workforce competitiveness and strengthen its care economy. However, recent immigration policy changes have shrunk the number of international admissions to the country.
Net international migration peaked at 2.7 million in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, then declined by 48% to 1.3 million in 2025, and is expected to decline even further in 2026 to about 321,000.
Firefighters on the Claremont Fire in Boise, Idaho on July 6, 2026. Drought across the Northwest has exacerbated wildfire conditions in the region. (Photo by Brenen Helgerson/National Interagency Fire Center)
OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE
By Mia Maldonado
Children are breathing in unhealthy air for longer periods of time as wildfires worsen across the country, according to a new study by researchers at Oregon State University’s College of Health.
The study found that over a 17-year span, the average number of days school children were exposed to unhealthy air increased by nearly eightfold. Researchers looked at the air quality data from across the country from 2006 through 2023, finding that the average number of annual smoke days at public schools rose from 6.8 to 54.4 days.
MMRV vaccines are stored in a refrigerator at the Ellis R. Shipp Public Health Center in West Valley City on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
HEALTHBEAT
By Alison Young
Public health experts have said we’re in “uncharted territory,” with measles hitting populations in ways not seen decades ago when the virus was routinely circulating in the United States. Healthbeat’s analysis of state measles data shows how the demographics of those infected is not the same in every state.
There’s also a question about how deaths are counted — something that’s sparked controversy between the state of Pennsylvania and federal health officials, who have not included most of the state’s reported measles deaths in national totals.
RECENT DISPATCHES
Caring for aging parents is getting more expensive | Anna Claire Vollers
MORE UTAH NEWS
As ICE expands, Utah law enforcement leaders worry some residents are avoiding police altogether — and not reporting crimes | The Salt Lake Tribune and Amplify Utah
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