Foreign-Born U.S.Population Passes 32 Million
The Commerce Department’s Census Bureau estimated today that the nation’s foreign-born population last year numbered 32.5 million, accounting for 11.5 percent of the total U.S. population.
Among the foreign-born population, 52 percent were born in Latin America, 26 percent in Asia, 14 percent in Europe and the remaining 8 percent in other regions of the world, such as Africa and Oceania.
According to the report, The Foreign-Born Population in the United States, March 2002,the foreign-born are a diverse group, with variable demographic, social and economic characteristics depending on the region of birth.
Some highlights inclue:
– People from Central America and Mexico made up more than two-thirds of the foreign-born from Latin America. They were concentrated in the West (55 percent) and the South (30 percent).
– Among the foreign-born in 2002, nearly half had entered the United States since 1990. More than 1-in-3 foreign-born people were naturalized U.S. citizens.
– People born in Asia and Europe had poverty rates similar to those of the native population, while the poverty rates for people from Central America were higher.
– Foreign-born people are more likely to live in central cities of metropolitan areas 43 percent) than the native population (27 percent).
– Relatively few foreign-born were less than 18 years of age (9 percent), compared with the native population (28 percent), because most of the children of foreign-born parents are natives.
– Slightly more than 1-in-4 foreign-born persons had a bachelor’s degree or more education, not significantly different from the native populaiton. More than one-fifth of the foreign-born had less than a ninth grade education, compared with about one-twentieth of the native population.
– The percentage of foreign-born workers in managerial or professional occupations ranged from a high of 40 percent for those from Asia (not significantly different for those from Europe or “other regions”) to a low of about 7 percent for those from Central America.
