MPI Releases Handy Fact Sheet on Most Recent Top Current and Historical U.S. Immigration Facts and Statistics

"The Migration Policy Institute’s online journal, the Migration Information Source, today published its annual compilation of some of the most up-to-date and frequently sought-after facts and statistics on U.S. immigration, including current and historical population shares, illegal migration flows, demographic and workforce characteristics and geographic distribution.

Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States is a unique and comprehensive resource that brings together in one place data from the Census Bureau (decennial census, American Community Survey and Current Population Survey), Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, MPI, Mexican government and other sources. The fact sheet provides the most recent top facts and figures on the nation’s immigrant, non-immigrant, refugee and asylum-seeking populations as well as data on enforcement, naturalization and other topics. As such, it’s a great resource for reporters and others needing quick access to relevant migration data.

The fact sheet reports that:

• Between 2000 and 2010, the five states with the largest percent growth in the immigrant population were Alabama (92 percent), South Carolina (88 percent), Tennessee (82 percent), Arkansas (79 percent) and Kentucky (75 percent).
• The nation’s 40 million immigrants represented 13 percent of the total U.S. population in 2010 – below the historical peak of just under 15 percent recorded in 1890 but well above the historical low of 5 percent recorded in 1970.
• The emigration rate from Mexico dropped from 6.9 migrants per 1,000 residents of Mexico in 2008 to 3.3 per 1,000 in 2010.
• More than 34 percent of the foreign-born population in the United States was uninsured in 2010, compared to 13 percent of the native-born population.
• In 2010, nearly 17 million children under the age of 17 lived at home with at least one immigrant parent, accounting for 24 percent of the 70.6 million children in that age group in the United States.
• The top five countries of birth for the approximately 1 million new green card holders in 2010 were Mexico (13 percent), China (7 percent), India (7 percent), the Philippines (6 percent) and the Dominican Republic (5 percent).

The fact sheet is available on the website of the Migration Information Source, MPI’s online journal and can be accessed directly at www.migrationinformation.org/USfocus/display.cfm?ID=886.

The Source provides fresh thought and authoritative data from numerous global organizations and governments, and global analysis of international migration and refugee trends. To sign up for the free, bimonthly Source e-newsletter, which includes a monthly feature on US immigration policy developments at the national and state levels as well as Spotlights providing demographic and other data on major immigrant populations to the United States, click here." - MPI, Mar. 21, 2012.