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Introduction | Questions to Consider | Source

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Country of Origin and Year of Entry into the U.S.
(1997)
U.S. Census Bureau

Introduction
The foreign-born population in the United States is not homogeneous. There are great differences in their demographic, social, and economic characteristics, not only based on country of origin but also related to how long they have lived here and whether they have become citizens. For instance, recent arrivals to this country are more likely to be poor, have lower incomes, and higher unemployment rates than the native born. But foreign-born people who have been here more than six years seem to have overcome their initial economic hardships. In fact, those who arrived during the 1970s are doing as well as natives in terms of income in 1997.

Questions to Consider

1. From the figures in the chart, what is the country of origin of most U.S. immigrants?
   
   
2. What region of the world is the birthplace of most U.S. immigrants?
   
   
3. After examining the figures in the second part of the chart, explain the trend you see.
   
   
4. Speculate on the effects of these changing immigration patterns on the nation's political and social activities.
   
   

Source

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN AND YEAR OF ENTRY INTO THE U.S. OF THE FOREIGN BORN, BY CITIZENSHIP STATUS: MARCH 1997
	(Numbers in thousands) Total Foreign-born
Country of Origin	Number	Percent
All Countries	25,779	100.0
Mexico Cuba Dominican Republic El Salvador Great Britian China and Hong Kong India Korea Philippines Vietnam Elsewhere	7,017 913 632 607 606 1,107 748 591 1,132 770 11,655	27.2 3.5 2.5 2.4 2.4 4.3 2.9 2.3 4.4 3.0 45.2
Came to the United States
All years of entry	25,779	100.0
Before 1970 1970 to 1979 1980 to 1989 Since 1990	4,749 4,935 8,555 7,539	18.4 19.1 33.2 29.2