Census Releases Foreign-Born Figures -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin -- Volume 10, Bulletin 6 -- March 13, 2003

On March 10, the Census Bureau released new figures based on its Current Population Survey showing that the foreign-born population in the United States has reached a new high of 32.3 million, or 11.5 percent of the total U.S. population.

The report finds that 52 percent of the foreign-born population were born in Latin America, 26 percent in Asia, 14 percent in Europe, and the remaining 8 percent from other areas around the world. In addition, among the foreign-born in 2002 in the United States, almost half had entered the United States since 1990, and one-third of them were naturalize U.S. citizens.

The foreign-born population is also more likely to live in the West, 38.1 percent, as opposed to the Midwest, 10.6 percent, the Northeast, 23.1 percent, and the South, 28.2 percent. Although this report did not compare states, past reports indicate that California houses roughly 30 percent of the nation's foreign-born residents. In 2000, 8.4 million of the nation's 28.8 million foreign-born resided in the state.

Persons from Central America and Mexico made up more than two-thirds of the foreign-born from Latin America, and they are heavily concentrated in the West (55 percent) and the South (30 percent). While poverty among persons from Asia and Europe roughly equaled that of the native-born population, poverty rates for people from Latin America were higher - 20.6 percent - compared to rates for those from Europe and Asia at 10 percent and 11.1 percent, respectively.

For the complete report, access the Bureau's website at: http://www.census.gov .

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