Australia’s economy is addicted to immigration, requiring ever-increasing infusions of new people to stave off an inevitable collapse.

Since the global financial crisis of 2008 to 2009, the U.S. economy has chalked up nine years of solid growth. Thats 36consecutive quartersof GDP moving in the right direction, which amounts to thesecond-longestrun in U.S. history. If the growth continues for just one more year, it will unseat the boom of 1990s to become the longest.

Thats impressive. But if youre looking for a developed country that seems to be entirely recession-proof, go to Australia. Australia has enjoyed 27 years of uninterrupted growth since its last recession108 consecutive quarters of economic expansion and counting.

A few developing countries such as China can match that record, of course, butno other developed economyeven comes close. When even China started to slow down in 2012, it raised fears amongcommodity exporterslike Australia. Iron and coal are Australiastop two exports, and China is their No. 1 destination. But even then, Australias GDP growthmerely slowedfrom 3.9 percent in 2012 to 2.6 percent in 2013. Other developed countries might be thrilled just to reach 2.6 percent in the first place.

But Australias extraordinary economic statistics mask a more difficult economic reality.

At the lowest point in the spring and summer of 2013, Australias quarterly growth rates fell to 1.7 percent. At the same time, Australias populationwas growing atan annualized rate of 1.8 percent. Measured in per capita terms, then, Australias economy actually shrank for two consecutive quarters.

Australia also experienced a per capita recession for four quarters during the global financial crisis and for two quarters during the dot-com bust of 2000. It recorded a quarter of negative per-capita GDP growth in 2003. Viewed this way, Australias economy has in fact matched every U.S. recession of the last 40 years, with one additional slowdown in the first half of 1986.

Economists dont usually bother to adjust quarterly GDP statistics for population growth. For most developed nations, population growth is so slow and steady as to hardly matter on such a short-term time horizon. Not so for Australia. Australias population has grown by nearly 45 percent since 1991. No other major developed countryeven comes closeto that rate.

Unlike similarly fast-growing countries in Africa and the Middle East, Australia doesnt have a particularly high fertility rate. In fact, the rate iswell belowthe replacement level required to keep its population stable. The majority of Australias population growthcomes fromimmigration. In turn, Australias so-called economic miracle is based on immigration, too.

The Australian Bureau of Statisticsreckons thatAustralias population passed the 25 million mark just after 11 p.m. on 7 August. That represents a doubling of the countrys population in less than 50 years. An equivalent growth rate in the United States since 1970 would have made for two extra Californias on top of the countrys actual population growth over the last half-century.

At the same time, 50 years of unparalleled immigration has given Australia the largest foreign-born population of any major developed country in modern times. As of 2016,over 28 percentof people in Australia were not born there. With immigration hittingnew recordsin the 2017 to 2018 fiscal year, that figure is almost certain to breach 30 percent by the end of the decade. Immigration is now adding nearly 1 percent per year to Australias population. By contrast, in the United States today,nearly 14 percentof the population is foreign-born. For America, that is nearly a record. The American foreign-born populationnever exceeded 15 percenteven in the 1890s heyday of mass immigration.

Australia is, in essence, in the midst of an unprecedented experiment in mass immigration the likes of which the developed world has never seen. And this influx of people feeds into its growth story through several channels. The first is that more people means more demandfor everything, but especially for housing. A typical four-bedroom house in a middle-class suburb about 20 miles west of central Sydney will set you backaround 1 millionAustralian dollars (about $700,000). Mass immigration has also led to a massive building boom that still hasnot kept pacewith population growth in Australias major metropolitan areas.

The second has to do with labor. In Australia, immigrants are selected based on a points system of the kind that U.S. President Donald Trumphas proposedfor the United States. More thantwo-thirdsof permanent migrants to Australia are admitted on account of their education and skills. These immigrants oftenfail to find workthat corresponds to their professional qualifications. Nonetheless, they are usually working-age adults in the most productive periods of their lives.

Their presence gives the economy a boostand saves the government a lot of money. Australia has a universal single-payer health care system called Medicare, which is similar to the U.S. Medicare program but is open to all citizens and permanent residents. With immigration continuously boosting the population of healthy, working-age, taxpaying adults who need little medical care, Australia is able to support its national health system at relatively low cost.

Third, Australia has even managed to turn immigration into an export industry.After minerals, Australias largest export may well be educational services, represented by tuition fees paid by international students studying in Australia. It is anopen secretthat most of these students view an Australian degree as a back door to permanent residency. In effect, Australian universities are selling more than just a quality education. They are selling the hope of a permanent resident visa along with it.

As a result, Australia, with a population of about 25 million, is rankedfourth in the worldfor the number of international university students, welcoming nearly one-third as many students as the United States (population 325 million). In addition to 382,000 international university students, Australia hosts a further 248,000 junior college and high school students. And international enrolments are growing atdouble-digit rates, with about one-third coming from China.

In Australias most populous state, New South Wales, a recentgovernment reportfound that revenue from international student tuition made up close to two-thirds of all tuition revenue in 2017. Given that the vast majority of Australias 43 universities are public institutions, international student tuition has become a lifesaver for the Australian taxpayer. And even as most student visas allow international studentsto work part-timeand pay the associated income taxesinternational students are not covered by public health insurance or most other government welfare programs. Inevitably, all these economic and budgetary upsides come at a price. Roads are clogged, schools are full, power grids are strained, and housing is scarce. Politicians and activists of all shades agree that Australiasinfrastructure is not keeping up with population growth. And then there are the social tensions that result from mass immigration, ranging from thevoluntary self-segregationof ethnic communities tooutright racismand social exclusion.

Formore than 20 years, a majority of Australians have consistently preferred lower levels of immigration. AnApril pollfound that 64 percent of Australian residents thought that recent immigration levels were too high, with more than one-third saying that they were much too high. And these results should be readin light of the factthat around 15 percent of Australias residents (and, presumably 15 percent of those polled) are not Australian citizens.

In fact, a majority or plurality of voters who identify withevery major political partyin Australia express a preference for less immigration. Yet, as in the United States, calls for reductions in the level of immigration arerepeatedly answeredwith charges of racism. Certainlythere is racismin Australia, as in every country. But when a country allows some of the highest levels of legal immigration in the world, twice as much as the United States did in its most immigrant-friendly era, it seems reasonable for people to ask: How much is too much?

And beyond the social strain, there is the economy to think about: As Australias population grows, the country needs exponentially more and more immigrants in order to continue to reap the same economic benefits. As a result, Australias heavy reliance on immigration to float the economy and fund government budgets runs the risk of turning into a giant immigration Ponzi scheme. So far, Australia has more or less been able to stretch existing infrastructure to accommodate a much larger population. But sooner or later, things will come to a head. When they do, Australia may experience the worlds first immigration economic crash.

Salvatore Babonesis an American sociologist at the University of Sydney and the author ofThe New Authoritarianism: Trump, Populism, and the Tyranny of Experts.

First published in Foreign Policy, 3 October 2018