The foreign-born population in the United States is projected to soar to record highs over the next half-century, a Pew Research Center analysis of Census projections shows.
Projections indicate that the immigrant population of 78 million will be nearly 19 percent of the U.S. population by 2060.
The Census Bureau projects that the previous immigrant share of the nation’s population will surpass the previous 1890 high of about 15 percent as soon as a decade from now.
And while Asian and Hispanic immigrants are expected to continue as the greatest numbers of the U.S. foreign-born population, the share of those groups is expected to drop, according to the report.
“Today, 66 percent of U.S. Asians are immigrants, but that share is predicted to fall to 55.4 percent by 2060. And while about a third of U.S. Hispanics (34.9 percent) are now foreign-born, the Census Bureau projects that this share too will fall, to 27.4 percent in 2060. These declines are due to the growing importance of births as drivers of each group’s population growth. Already, for Hispanics, U.S. births drive 78 percent of population growth.”
