# data[].attributes.body
I think that people immigrate because....

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly immigrate from...

# data[].attributes.body
I think that people immigrate because they want to have a better life.

# data[].attributes.body
I think that people immigrate beacuse a problem, work, or to experience

# data[].attributes.body
I think that  people immigrate because there jobs, family and better life

# data[].attributes.body
I think that people immigrante because hi want another live or for the community.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people immigrate because sometimes they’re country get like in a war or because they need a better job and life.

# data[].attributes.body
Ana

People mostly Immigrante from....  all of the country’s on Central Europe

# data[].attributes.body
I think people  immigrate because they want a better job, or want to have a better live in another country.

# data[].attributes.body
I think that people immigrate because they want to have a new live in other country

# data[].attributes.body
I think that people immigrate because: for a best live and a best country.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people imagrent because of wors,work or to have a new life to start over.
I

# data[].attributes.body
I think people immigrate because they wanted a better place to live in.

# data[].attributes.body
I think that people imigrate because of work, war and family

# data[].attributes.body
I think that the people immigrate because ther a lot of problems but one is because economic

# data[].attributes.body
They can immigrate for economic ploblems or family etc.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people Imigrate from Russia, China France and italy

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly come from places that have  war

# data[].attributes.body
I think people immigrate for a better life.

# data[].attributes.body
I think that people immigrate because of wars

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly immigrated from Italy

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly immigrate from: USA.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people immigrate because their are still wars in countries and to get better jobs and a better life.

# data[].attributes.body
I think the mostly come to imagrent from places at worr or places that are poor that don’t have enough food or water.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people  mostly immigrate from places then in are war

# data[].attributes.body
I thing that the people immigrate from China ,France and India

# data[].attributes.body
I think that people mostly immigrate from Korea, Italy, or France.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly immigrante from Russia,Europe,the Philipenes,India and Mexico.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly immigrate from places that are in war.

# data[].attributes.body
From Russia and Ireland

# data[].attributes.body
From india or rusia ($_$) (*_*)

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly immigrate from China, Japan, Korea and France

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly immigrate from India,Russia, France , Korea

# data[].attributes.body
I think that people immigrate because...
there are war so immigrate to another country.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly immigrate from U.S.A

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly immigrate from......
Place in a war or need help.

# data[].attributes.body
Ana

I think that people immigrante .... cause they want a better job and life or for they kids have a better school

# data[].attributes.body
I think mostly immigrate from: Mexico, India,and France.

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrate because.....

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Exam board content from BBC Bitesize for students in England, Northern Ireland or Wales. Choose the exam specification that matches the one you study.

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrate because they want a better job, or want to have a better life in another’s country, also they change places to because there ir war so they’d want to live in somerwere else that there is no war.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Here in the US, there's been a lot of talk recently on immigration. The debate is raging over President Obama's new series of executive actions that will grant up to 5 million undocumented immigrants protection from deportation. Naturally, this kind of boldness has created quite the ruckus, as his opponents insist he has gone too far. And outside of Washington DC, discussions over immigration are just as heated.

Freedom of speech is one of the most important aspects of our constitution, and lively discourse is the only way to arrive at a thoughtful conclusion. But, how can we talk about these types of issues if we don't have the facts? For this reason, let's take a look at some of the reasons why different groups of people choose to immigrate.
1. To escape past or future persecution based on race, religion, nationality, and/or membership in a particular social group or political opinion
Za'atari refugee camp, Jordan | UNHCR/ Brian Sokol
2. To escape conflict or violence 3. To find refuge after being displaced due to environmental factors
In most countries, and in the United States, families and individuals who meet this criteria may obtain refugee status or asylum. Now, here's the difference: refugees must secure their status prior to entering the country of choice, where as asylum seekers seek status upon arrival. A complex differentiation that causes a lot of confusion in the process to get people to safety.
4. To seek superior healthcare
In many countries, but not the United States, families and individuals who immigrate to escape conflicts like war and violence can be considered for refugee status or asylum.

Natural disasters, erosion, and other environmental factors caused by climate change are real threats that disproportionately affect people living in poverty. In fact, Christian Aid reports that 1 billion people could be displaced in the next 50 years as the effects of climate change worsen.

People who fit this description are dubbed climate "refugees," but the name does not necessarily imply they have, or can receive, refugee status. As this is a newer phenomenon, many countries are still trying to determine how to respond to this growing issue.
6. To offer more opportunities to children 7. Family reunification 8. For educational purposes
Imagine living in a country with limited access to healthcare when you're suffering from serious health problems. Not fun.
9. For jobs and business opportunities
Agriculture worker in Argentina picking strawberries | Nahuel Berger/ World Bank

Perhaps the most commonly assumed reason for immigration.

Parents sometimes make the difficult decision to migrate so their children can benefit from things like superior education, and plentiful job opportunities.

Self explanatory, I think? Mom and Dad, I miss you!!

Students from Merrimack College studying abroad in China | Merrimack College

Shout out to all of the adventurous students. Some study abroad to seek out better educational opportunities than are available in their own countries, while others simply want the thrill of living in an exciting, new place.

In some cases, people migrate with the knowledge or hope that more opportunities will be available to them in their particular field than at home. Others migrate after employment has already been offered to them.

In today's globalized world, long-distance dating is all the rage. But, for couples ready to take the next step down the aisle, migrating to be together is the obvious choice (and a lot easier on the wallet.)

At Global Citizen, our office is full of Aussies and people from far more interesting places than the US (it's just my opinion.) Why they would abandon gorgeous beaches and cute little kangaroos is beyond me, but I'm sure they have their reasons.

As we think about immigration, and how best to approach it, let's try and remember that we're talking about real people. People who made a major decision to uproot their lives and start from scratch in a scary, new place. After all, isn't making that human connection what being a Global Citizen is all about?

----

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why people migrate: 11 surprising reasons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Here in the US, there's been a lot of talk recently on immigration. The debate is raging over President Obama's new series of executive actions that will grant up to 5 million undocumented immigrants protection from deportation. Naturally, this kind of boldness has created quite the ruckus, as his opponents insist he has gone too far.

# data[].attributes.body
People Immagrante because marriage,education,escape poverty,better job and religion.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Here in the US, there's been a lot of talk recently on immigration. The debate is raging over President Obama's new series of executive actions that will grant up to 5 million undocumented immigrants protection from deportation. Naturally, this kind of boldness has created quite the ruckus, as his opponents insist he has gone too far. And outside of Washington DC, discussions over immigration are just as heated.

Freedom of speech is one of the most important aspects of our constitution, and lively discourse is the only way to arrive at a thoughtful conclusion. But, how can we talk about these types of issues if we don't have the facts? For this reason, let's take a look at some of the reasons why different groups of people choose to immigrate.
1. To escape past or future persecution based on race, religion, nationality, and/or membership in a particular social group or political opinion
Za'atari refugee camp, Jordan | UNHCR/ Brian Sokol
2. To escape conflict or violence 3. To find refuge after being displaced due to environmental factors
In most countries, and in the United States, families and individuals who meet this criteria may obtain refugee status or asylum. Now, here's the difference: refugees must secure their status prior to entering the country of choice, where as asylum seekers seek status upon arrival. A complex differentiation that causes a lot of confusion in the process to get people to safety.
4. To seek superior healthcare
In many countries, but not the United States, families and individuals who immigrate to escape conflicts like war and violence can be considered for refugee status or asylum.

Natural disasters, erosion, and other environmental factors caused by climate change are real threats that disproportionately affect people living in poverty. In fact, Christian Aid reports that 1 billion people could be displaced in the next 50 years as the effects of climate change worsen.

People who fit this description are dubbed climate "refugees," but the name does not necessarily imply they have, or can receive, refugee status. As this is a newer phenomenon, many countries are still trying to determine how to respond to this growing issue.
6. To offer more opportunities to children 7. Family reunification 8. For educational purposes
Imagine living in a country with limited access to healthcare when you're suffering from serious health problems. Not fun.
9. For jobs and business opportunities
Agriculture worker in Argentina picking strawberries | Nahuel Berger/ World Bank

Perhaps the most commonly assumed reason for immigration.

Parents sometimes make the difficult decision to migrate so their children can benefit from things like superior education, and plentiful job opportunities.

Self explanatory, I think? Mom and Dad, I miss you!!

Students from Merrimack College studying abroad in China | Merrimack College

Shout out to all of the adventurous students. Some study abroad to seek out better educational opportunities than are available in their own countries, while others simply want the thrill of living in an exciting, new place.

In some cases, people migrate with the knowledge or hope that more opportunities will be available to them in their particular field than at home. Others migrate after employment has already been offered to them.

In today's globalized world, long-distance dating is all the rage. But, for couples ready to take the next step down the aisle, migrating to be together is the obvious choice (and a lot easier on the wallet.)

At Global Citizen, our office is full of Aussies and people from far more interesting places than the US (it's just my opinion.) Why they would abandon gorgeous beaches and cute little kangaroos is beyond me, but I'm sure they have their reasons.

As we think about immigration, and how best to approach it, let's try and remember that we're talking about real people. People who made a major decision to uproot their lives and start from scratch in a scary, new place. After all, isn't making that human connection what being a Global Citizen is all about?

----

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why people migrate: 11 surprising reasons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Here in the US, there's been a lot of talk recently on immigration. The debate is raging over President Obama's new series of executive actions that will grant up to 5 million undocumented immigrants protection from deportation. Naturally, this kind of boldness has created quite the ruckus, as his opponents insist he has gone too far.

# data[].attributes.body
People inmigrate for health, to get out of war etc.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Why do some people migrate while others do not, when exposed to similar structural factors, such as employment opportunities, conflict, environmental and political factors? Dr Mathias Czaika explains the drivers of international migration.

# data[].attributes.body
I think that people immediately because of wars

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrante for a new live or the politic and the community

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
People have moved from their home countries for centuries, for all sorts of reasons. Some are drawn to new places by ʻpull ʻ factors, others find it difficult to remain where they are and migrate because of ʻpushʼ factors. These have contributed to the recent inward movement of people to here but are also the reason why people from here have emigrated to other countries.

Over 80 million people in the world have Irish blood; 36.5 million US residents claimed Irish ancestry in 2007. Historically some were transported or sold into slavery or left because of poverty, hunger, persecution, discrimination, civil war, unemployment and, more recently, simply for education and better jobs. Worldwide numbers of migrants have risen rapidly in the last decade. The International Organization for Migration estimates that there were around 244 million international migrants in 2015.
Pull Factors
Migrants are drawn to countries such as the UK and Ireland for the following factors:

* Developed countries, or industrialised city areas within countries, draw labour from countries or regions where incomes are lower.

* International transport has never been easier and is cheaper than ever, relative to incomes.

* The telephone and internet make it easier to access information.

* Falling birth rates in developed countries contribute to labour shortages and skills gaps.

* Extra people are required when there is rapid economic expansion.

* People are drawn to stable democracies where human rights and religious freedoms are more likely to be respected.

* Many people in other parts of the world speak English or want to learn English.

* Young people move in order to get better jobs or improve their qualifications, including their language skills.
Push Factors
Negative factors at home add to the reasons why people feel compelled to move.

* Lack of prospects for career advancement

* Poverty and low incomes

* High unemployment rates

* Persecution and poor human rights

* Internal conflict and war

* Climate change, natural disasters and famine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
People have moved from their home countries for centuries, for all sorts of reasons. Some are drawn to new places by ʻpull ʻ factors, others find it difficult to remain where they are and migrate because of ʻpushʼ factors.

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrate for all sorts of reasons like war.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
People have moved from their home countries for centuries, for all sorts of reasons. Some are drawn to new places by ʻpull ʻ factors, others find it difficult to remain where they are and migrate because of ʻpushʼ factors. These have contributed to the recent inward movement of people to here but are also the reason why people from here have emigrated to other countries.

Over 80 million people in the world have Irish blood; 36.5 million US residents claimed Irish ancestry in 2007. Historically some were transported or sold into slavery or left because of poverty, hunger, persecution, discrimination, civil war, unemployment and, more recently, simply for education and better jobs. Worldwide numbers of migrants have risen rapidly in the last decade. The International Organization for Migration estimates that there were around 244 million international migrants in 2015.
Pull Factors
Migrants are drawn to countries such as the UK and Ireland for the following factors:

* Developed countries, or industrialised city areas within countries, draw labour from countries or regions where incomes are lower.

* International transport has never been easier and is cheaper than ever, relative to incomes.

* The telephone and internet make it easier to access information.

* Falling birth rates in developed countries contribute to labour shortages and skills gaps.

* Extra people are required when there is rapid economic expansion.

* People are drawn to stable democracies where human rights and religious freedoms are more likely to be respected.

* Many people in other parts of the world speak English or want to learn English.

* Young people move in order to get better jobs or improve their qualifications, including their language skills.
Push Factors
Negative factors at home add to the reasons why people feel compelled to move.

* Lack of prospects for career advancement

* Poverty and low incomes

* High unemployment rates

* Persecution and poor human rights

* Internal conflict and war

* Climate change, natural disasters and famine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
People have moved from their home countries for centuries, for all sorts of reasons. Some are drawn to new places by ʻpull ʻ factors, others find it difficult to remain where they are and migrate because of ʻpushʼ factors.

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrate because they want a better job, school, or better life.

# data[].attributes.body
A lot of people immigrate because natural disasters or economic problems

# data[].attributes.body
People mostly come from:
1.China
2 | Romania
3 | India
4 | Poland
5 | Mexico
6 | Philippines
7 | United States
8 | United Kingdom
9 | Germany
10 | Ukraine
11 | Morocco
12 | France
13 | Korea
14 | Pakistan
15 | Peru
16 | Viet Nam
17 | Russian Federation
18 | Bulgaria
19 | Colombia
20 | Italy
21 | Dominican Republic
22 | Turkey
23 | Uzbekistan
24 | Iraq
25 | Kazakhstan

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The US is the top destination for permanent immigrants according to a report published today.

The international migration outlook 2011 released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlights the top 25 countries with the highest number of immigrants into OECD countries and also shows where they come from.

The US was home to 1,130,200 immigrants in 2009, a rise of 2.1% on 2008. The UK follows in second place, seeing a jump of 14.5% on the number of immigrants since the previous year. However the UK is also ranked the 8th highest for the number of people migrating to other OECD countries - 133,000 people migrated in 2009.

China was the top country for immigration into OECD countries in 2009 with 468,000 nationals emigrating. Romania has by the far the largest number of emigrants per million population at 12,000 whereas despite their high ranking, China has 350 emigrants per million population.

Out of the top 25 countries listed, only seven recorded percentage increases in immigrants during 2007-2009. Iraq has seen a 22% increase during 2007/2009 of people emigrating towards the OECD countries. The Dominican Republic records highly too with a 21% increase.

Data showing the top 25 countries of immigration into OECD countries and inflows of permanent immigrants by country can be seen in our spreadsheet. The tables below show the data concerning OECD countries but there is additional countries and years in the spreadsheet to download.

What can you do with this data?

Data summary

Download the data

* DATA: download the full spreadsheet

More open data
Latest refugee data Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian
World government data

* Search the world's government data with our gateway

Development and aid data

* Search the world's global development data with our gateway

Can you do something with this data?

* Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group
* Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
International migration: where do people go and where from?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The OECD has published their latest report into international migration. Which countries are home to the most immigrants and which countries do they come from?

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrate for jobs, war and economy issues

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrate because:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
People have moved from their home countries for centuries, for all sorts of reasons. Some are drawn to new places by ʻpull ʻ factors, others find it difficult to remain where they are and migrate because of ʻpushʼ factors. These have contributed to the recent inward movement of people to here but are also the reason why people from here have emigrated to other countries.

Over 80 million people in the world have Irish blood; 36.5 million US residents claimed Irish ancestry in 2007. Historically some were transported or sold into slavery or left because of poverty, hunger, persecution, discrimination, civil war, unemployment and, more recently, simply for education and better jobs. Worldwide numbers of migrants have risen rapidly in the last decade. The International Organization for Migration estimates that there were around 244 million international migrants in 2015.
Pull Factors
Migrants are drawn to countries such as the UK and Ireland for the following factors:

* Developed countries, or industrialised city areas within countries, draw labour from countries or regions where incomes are lower.

* International transport has never been easier and is cheaper than ever, relative to incomes.

* The telephone and internet make it easier to access information.

* Falling birth rates in developed countries contribute to labour shortages and skills gaps.

* Extra people are required when there is rapid economic expansion.

* People are drawn to stable democracies where human rights and religious freedoms are more likely to be respected.

* Many people in other parts of the world speak English or want to learn English.

* Young people move in order to get better jobs or improve their qualifications, including their language skills.
Push Factors
Negative factors at home add to the reasons why people feel compelled to move.

* Lack of prospects for career advancement

* Poverty and low incomes

* High unemployment rates

* Persecution and poor human rights

* Internal conflict and war

* Climate change, natural disasters and famine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
People have moved from their home countries for centuries, for all sorts of reasons. Some are drawn to new places by ʻpull ʻ factors, others find it difficult to remain where they are and migrate because of ʻpushʼ factors.

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrate because of work or wars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54xM8VlgP7s

# data[].attributes.body
People mostly imagrent of work and because the inviroment it could be ice cold and the food would be dead or maybe fish would be frozen.

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrate mostly because economic causes, war, poor services, lack of education, poor medical care, unemployed,persecution.

# data[].attributes.body
Ana

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Exam board content from BBC Bitesize for students in England, Northern Ireland or Wales. Choose the exam specification that matches the one you study.

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrate because:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
People have moved from their home countries for centuries, for all sorts of reasons. Some are drawn to new places by ʻpull ʻ factors, others find it difficult to remain where they are and migrate because of ʻpushʼ factors. These have contributed to the recent inward movement of people to here but are also the reason why people from here have emigrated to other countries.

Over 80 million people in the world have Irish blood; 36.5 million US residents claimed Irish ancestry in 2007. Historically some were transported or sold into slavery or left because of poverty, hunger, persecution, discrimination, civil war, unemployment and, more recently, simply for education and better jobs. Worldwide numbers of migrants have risen rapidly in the last decade. The International Organization for Migration estimates that there were around 244 million international migrants in 2015.
Pull Factors
Migrants are drawn to countries such as the UK and Ireland for the following factors:

* Developed countries, or industrialised city areas within countries, draw labour from countries or regions where incomes are lower.

* International transport has never been easier and is cheaper than ever, relative to incomes.

* The telephone and internet make it easier to access information.

* Falling birth rates in developed countries contribute to labour shortages and skills gaps.

* Extra people are required when there is rapid economic expansion.

* People are drawn to stable democracies where human rights and religious freedoms are more likely to be respected.

* Many people in other parts of the world speak English or want to learn English.

* Young people move in order to get better jobs or improve their qualifications, including their language skills.
Push Factors
Negative factors at home add to the reasons why people feel compelled to move.

* Lack of prospects for career advancement

* Poverty and low incomes

* High unemployment rates

* Persecution and poor human rights

* Internal conflict and war

* Climate change, natural disasters and famine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
People have moved from their home countries for centuries, for all sorts of reasons. Some are drawn to new places by ʻpull ʻ factors, others find it difficult to remain where they are and migrate because of ʻpushʼ factors.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people inmigrante for work, experience, problems, etc.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly immigrate from Mexico

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Roughly 138 million people worldwide, or about 2% of the world's adult population, want to immigrate to the United States. In China, as many as 19 million adults would like to move to the land of opportunity - the largest number of any country. Based on data provided by Gallup, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the seven countries where the most people want to come to the United States.

Not surprisingly, these countries are all among the most populous in the world. All seven are among the 12 largest by population. While the numbers are quite large, given that these countries all have at least 100 million citizens, the percentage of the population looking to move to the U.S. is actually quite small. The 19 million Chinese looking to immigrate to the U.S. amount to just 1% of China's total population.
Click here to see the countries sending the most people to America
In some of the world's most populous countries, however, very few citizens are looking to immigrate to the U.S. Fewer than 1 million people in Indonesia, the fourth-most populous country in the world, and in Pakistan, the sixth-most populous, want to move to the United States. Much of that likely is due to high disapproval of U.S. leadership. According to Gallup, only 23% of Indonesians support U.S. leadership, while only 12% of Pakistanis do.

The countries with the highest percentage of people who would like to move to U.S. are far different than the countries on this list. The countries with the highest percentage of people looking to immigrate - including Liberia, Haiti and Honduras - tend to be smaller, third-world countries with very little economic opportunity available domestically.

Economic opportunities in many of the seven countries on the list are not plentiful either. Countries such as Bangladesh and Nigeria, both on the list, have far fewer resources to get ahead than in the United States. In 2011, Nigeria's gross domestic product (GDP) was $2,582 per capita, while in Bangladesh it was just $1,909. The U.S. GDP per capita was $48,328. None of the countries on this list had a GDP per capita in 2011 that was even a third of that in the United States.

For countries such as Mexico and the Philippines, the desire to immigrate likely is influenced by the networks of friends and family that already exist in the United States, according to Jon Clifton, a partner at Gallup. More than 1.8 million people originally from the Philippines live in the U.S. In Mexico, the desire for greater economic opportunity led to a four decade-long mass migration to the U.S. However, this trend actually has reversed in recent years as border security has become more stringent and jobs have become more scarce as a result of the U.S. recession.

In the cases of India and China, the people that are eager to come to America tend to be more educated than the population at large, Clifton pointed out. "Brain drain is probably more serious [in China and India] than it is in a country like the U.S., U.K. or Germany," Clifton said. In the United States, United Kingdom or Germany, a higher percentage of people want to leave the country, but those who want to leave for the U.S. tend to be less educated due to the lower economic opportunities for low-skilled workers.

Based on data from Gallup, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the seven countries where the largest number of adults would like to immigrate to the United States. We also looked at the percentage of adults in a particular country looking to immigrate to the U.S., as provided by Gallup. In addition, we looked at total population numbers from the CIA World Factbook. The number of people living in the U.S. from each country was taken from the U.S. Census Bureau. We also looked at well-being data for each of these countries and the percentage of people who approved and disapproved of American leadership, both provided by Gallup. In addition, we looked at data from the United Nations regarding poverty and literacy rates in the countries, and data on GDP was obtained from the International Monetary Fund.

These are the countries sending the most people to America.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Seven Countries Sending the Most People to America

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Source: ThinkstockRoughly 138 million people worldwide, or about 2% of the world's adult population, want to immigrate to the United States. In China, as many as 19 million adults would like to move to the land of opportunity - the largest number of any country. Based on data provided by Gallup, 24/7 Wall St.

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrate from, the U.S.A because,the U.S was home to 1,130,200 immigrate in 2009.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The US is the top destination for permanent immigrants according to a report published today.

The international migration outlook 2011 released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlights the top 25 countries with the highest number of immigrants into OECD countries and also shows where they come from.

The US was home to 1,130,200 immigrants in 2009, a rise of 2.1% on 2008. The UK follows in second place, seeing a jump of 14.5% on the number of immigrants since the previous year. However the UK is also ranked the 8th highest for the number of people migrating to other OECD countries - 133,000 people migrated in 2009.

China was the top country for immigration into OECD countries in 2009 with 468,000 nationals emigrating. Romania has by the far the largest number of emigrants per million population at 12,000 whereas despite their high ranking, China has 350 emigrants per million population.

Out of the top 25 countries listed, only seven recorded percentage increases in immigrants during 2007-2009. Iraq has seen a 22% increase during 2007/2009 of people emigrating towards the OECD countries. The Dominican Republic records highly too with a 21% increase.

Data showing the top 25 countries of immigration into OECD countries and inflows of permanent immigrants by country can be seen in our spreadsheet. The tables below show the data concerning OECD countries but there is additional countries and years in the spreadsheet to download.

What can you do with this data?

Data summary

Download the data

* DATA: download the full spreadsheet

More open data
Latest refugee data Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian
World government data

* Search the world's government data with our gateway

Development and aid data

* Search the world's global development data with our gateway

Can you do something with this data?

* Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group
* Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
International migration: where do people go and where from?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The OECD has published their latest report into international migration. Which countries are home to the most immigrants and which countries do they come from?

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrate for a lot of reasons
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UM78Yzf-y4I

# data[].attributes.body
People migrate for many different reasons. These reasons can be classified as economic, social, political or environmental: economic migration - moving to find work or follow a particular career path. social migration - moving somewhere for a better quality of life or to be closer to family or friends.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Why people migrate? door Lea Zejdler Hoe visualiseer je vijf eeuwen migratie? Met deze opdracht gingen 32 tweedejaars studenten van de Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten aan de slag. Zij maakten verschillende korte animatiefilmpjes. Een interdisciplinaire jury koos uit de inzendingen de 7 beste animatiefilmpjes.

# data[].attributes.body
Meny people immigrate from india an rusia

# data[].attributes.body
China people mostly immigrate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Roughly 138 million people worldwide, or about 2% of the world's adult population, want to immigrate to the United States. In China, as many as 19 million adults would like to move to the land of opportunity - the largest number of any country. Based on data provided by Gallup, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the seven countries where the most people want to come to the United States.

Not surprisingly, these countries are all among the most populous in the world. All seven are among the 12 largest by population. While the numbers are quite large, given that these countries all have at least 100 million citizens, the percentage of the population looking to move to the U.S. is actually quite small. The 19 million Chinese looking to immigrate to the U.S. amount to just 1% of China's total population.
Click here to see the countries sending the most people to America
In some of the world's most populous countries, however, very few citizens are looking to immigrate to the U.S. Fewer than 1 million people in Indonesia, the fourth-most populous country in the world, and in Pakistan, the sixth-most populous, want to move to the United States. Much of that likely is due to high disapproval of U.S. leadership. According to Gallup, only 23% of Indonesians support U.S. leadership, while only 12% of Pakistanis do.

The countries with the highest percentage of people who would like to move to U.S. are far different than the countries on this list. The countries with the highest percentage of people looking to immigrate - including Liberia, Haiti and Honduras - tend to be smaller, third-world countries with very little economic opportunity available domestically.

Economic opportunities in many of the seven countries on the list are not plentiful either. Countries such as Bangladesh and Nigeria, both on the list, have far fewer resources to get ahead than in the United States. In 2011, Nigeria's gross domestic product (GDP) was $2,582 per capita, while in Bangladesh it was just $1,909. The U.S. GDP per capita was $48,328. None of the countries on this list had a GDP per capita in 2011 that was even a third of that in the United States.

For countries such as Mexico and the Philippines, the desire to immigrate likely is influenced by the networks of friends and family that already exist in the United States, according to Jon Clifton, a partner at Gallup. More than 1.8 million people originally from the Philippines live in the U.S. In Mexico, the desire for greater economic opportunity led to a four decade-long mass migration to the U.S. However, this trend actually has reversed in recent years as border security has become more stringent and jobs have become more scarce as a result of the U.S. recession.

In the cases of India and China, the people that are eager to come to America tend to be more educated than the population at large, Clifton pointed out. "Brain drain is probably more serious [in China and India] than it is in a country like the U.S., U.K. or Germany," Clifton said. In the United States, United Kingdom or Germany, a higher percentage of people want to leave the country, but those who want to leave for the U.S. tend to be less educated due to the lower economic opportunities for low-skilled workers.

Based on data from Gallup, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the seven countries where the largest number of adults would like to immigrate to the United States. We also looked at the percentage of adults in a particular country looking to immigrate to the U.S., as provided by Gallup. In addition, we looked at total population numbers from the CIA World Factbook. The number of people living in the U.S. from each country was taken from the U.S. Census Bureau. We also looked at well-being data for each of these countries and the percentage of people who approved and disapproved of American leadership, both provided by Gallup. In addition, we looked at data from the United Nations regarding poverty and literacy rates in the countries, and data on GDP was obtained from the International Monetary Fund.

These are the countries sending the most people to America.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Seven Countries Sending the Most People to America

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Source: ThinkstockRoughly 138 million people worldwide, or about 2% of the world's adult population, want to immigrate to the United States. In China, as many as 19 million adults would like to move to the land of opportunity - the largest number of any country. Based on data provided by Gallup, 24/7 Wall St.

# data[].attributes.body
Most people immigrate because they want a country that is not complicated to go home or school and with traffic. People shan’t immigrate because they want a place with no pollution and no protest.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
immigration to the united states (film subject)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Immigrants, migrants and refugees are often in the news - but why do people get up and leave their homes in the first place? AJ+ host Dena Takruri explains the root causes behind migration around the world.

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrate from almost all the world, like United States, Canada, and Mexico etc.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Talk of a border wall with Mexico coupled with legal challenges to the President's executive actions on immigration and a rise in hate crimes post-election, have left many feeling like outsiders in a country they once wholeheartedly embraced.

Now with federal agents scooping up hundreds in a series of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, immigrants -- here legally, some with American citizenship -- reveal what it's like to live in limbo and become marginalized with the flick of a pen.

... trying to act American

Arya Patole is a 26-year-old social worker living in Brooklyn, New York. Along with her family, she emigrated to the United States from India as a child, becoming a naturalized citizen 17 years ago.

"Even though I do have immigrant attached to my identity, I feel like I have assimilated so much into America that I felt like an American," she told CNN, adding "But ever since this election and (Trump's) rhetoric, it made me feel othered so quickly."

It's hardly the first time Patole has felt ostracized for the color of her skin but since 9/11, she says her family has learned to navigate their lives through any suspicion or hostility.

"We are brown and we kind of look ethnically ambiguous at times," she said. As a result, Patole and her family make sure to adhere to TSA rules when traveling and "try our best to look American."

But their coping mechanisms have had to go up a notch since Trump's travel ban. Her father has suggested that she and her brother, who is also a naturalized citizen, carry their passports with them in case they need to prove their citizenship if conditions escalate.

"I guess it's kind of a safety plan," she said. "Our fear is how far this could be taken ... if we ever stopped in any way or were asked questions, we would be able to have documentation."

... reminding others that some fled war

If Trump's executive order -- which temporarily suspended all refugees from entering the US -- had been in place six months ago, 45-year-old Ali Mohammed would not be in America.

"Thank God. I can now enroll my children in school. There is now hope in life. Before coming here, there was no hope for us."

Four years ago, his family fled their town in Syria as the war there intensified. Traveling first to Beirut then onto Egypt, it was an uphill battle to start again. Mohammed wasn't allowed to work nor was he eligible for government support; while his children were not allowed to register for school.

Through a refugee organization, they applied for asylum in the United States and after two years of intense vetting and exhaustive interviews, the family moved to Clarkston, Georgia, where they were welcomed by "kind" and "goodhearted people."

A former cameraman and assistant producer for Syrian television shows, Mohammed now works odd jobs to make ends meet.

"(Trump) has to understand that no one came here because they wanted to. We didn't choose to be refugees. We had no choice," said Mohammed, who is taking English classes in the hopes of finding a better job.

But with the travel ban before the courts in Virginia and a potential appeal coming from the administration, deportation is a constant worry for the father of four.

"Deportation is our biggest fear. Not just mine, but for all refugees. If America kicks us out, where will we go? I certainly can't go back to Syria. What will happen to my family?" he said.

"We are people who want to work, to build a life. If we came to America that means we are escaping war."

... being in a constant state of instability

Thanu Yakupitiyage, 31, of New York City said that the current climate for refugees is "extremely anxiety-producing." Yakupitiyage, herself, is an immigrant who came to the US in 2003 from Sri Lanka on a full scholarship for college. Since then she has held multiple visas; first as a student followed by a work visa before becoming a legal permanent resident last year.

Because of her personal experience, she knows how hard it is to relocate here permanently, citing the "broken immigration" system. It's why she has dedicated her life to supporting immigrants regardless of their status. For the last six years, she has worked at the New York Immigration Coalition, an immigrant rights organization.

"The US can be a really difficult place to navigate if you're not from here."

There's a lot of anxiety and frustration coming from the immigrant communities she works with, especially as rumors of ICE raids spread, she told CNN. She has heard stories from coworkers of people not going to work anymore, afraid to leave their homes.

She adds: "That's the thing that's so scary about this anti-immigrant climate, is that it's making it really hard for people to go about their daily lives."

... feeling uncertain all the time

For some, the travel ban has led to a sense of urgency in their bids to become US citizens. Aaron Cotteral, 32, is a green card holder from the UK. Emigrating when he was 12, he has since built a life in the US working as a real estate agent in Atlanta, Georgia, and starting a family.

"I fear for my circumstances ... when I go for my quest to became a citizen, the process could get harder."

Cotteral's concerns also extend to how his immigration status might impact his nine-year-old son.

"I want to know that when I am coming through with a US passport that they see me as no different," he said, adding that he is refusing to travel abroad for the time being.

"I felt the need to just stay put for right now," he said. "I don't know what I could encounter coming back in."

"You just feel a sense of insecurity. If it can happen to someone else, you can't say it can't happen to you," he said of potentially not being allowed back into the country.

... fearing for future generations

Meanwhile for others, the temporary restrictions have left them wandering what the long-term effects might be.

Mother to three children born in the US, Janet Olawoye is an immigrant from Nigeria. She and her husband have both become US citizens.

Since Trump's inauguration, she has grown increasingly concerned that the children of immigrants will be subjected to scrutiny at school over subjects like their traditional names.

Additionally, she said that one of her kids has already come home asking questions if they are returning to Africa after being asked the same question at school.

She added: "We're the adults, we can handle ourselves, but it's the kids, the next generation of immigrants, those are the people that I'm afraid for."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
being an immigrant in the us today means ...   - cnn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Darran Simon and Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Being an immigrant in the United States today means ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Talk of a border wall with Mexico coupled with legal challenges to the President's executive actions on immigration and a rise in hate crimes post-election, have left many feeling like outsiders in a country they once wholeheartedly embraced.

# data[].attributes.body
It is proven that when wars are caused people want to leave because they get hurt or die and then the food gets taken from the people and they starve

# data[].attributes.body
I think mostly people come from France, Italy, and other places from Europe

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The US is the top destination for permanent immigrants according to a report published today.

The international migration outlook 2011 released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlights the top 25 countries with the highest number of immigrants into OECD countries and also shows where they come from.

The US was home to 1,130,200 immigrants in 2009, a rise of 2.1% on 2008. The UK follows in second place, seeing a jump of 14.5% on the number of immigrants since the previous year. However the UK is also ranked the 8th highest for the number of people migrating to other OECD countries - 133,000 people migrated in 2009.

China was the top country for immigration into OECD countries in 2009 with 468,000 nationals emigrating. Romania has by the far the largest number of emigrants per million population at 12,000 whereas despite their high ranking, China has 350 emigrants per million population.

Out of the top 25 countries listed, only seven recorded percentage increases in immigrants during 2007-2009. Iraq has seen a 22% increase during 2007/2009 of people emigrating towards the OECD countries. The Dominican Republic records highly too with a 21% increase.

Data showing the top 25 countries of immigration into OECD countries and inflows of permanent immigrants by country can be seen in our spreadsheet. The tables below show the data concerning OECD countries but there is additional countries and years in the spreadsheet to download.

What can you do with this data?

Data summary

Download the data

* DATA: download the full spreadsheet

More open data
Latest refugee data Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian
World government data

* Search the world's government data with our gateway

Development and aid data

* Search the world's global development data with our gateway

Can you do something with this data?

* Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group
* Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
International migration: where do people go and where from?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The OECD has published their latest report into international migration. Which countries are home to the most immigrants and which countries do they come from?

# data[].attributes.body
People immigrate because economic, work , better life

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Exam board content from BBC Bitesize for students in England, Northern Ireland or Wales. Choose the exam specification that matches the one you study.

# data[].attributes.body
People most Immigrante from China ,Romain India ...

# data[].attributes.body
People mostly immigrate from Japan ,Mexico India Brazil Nigeria and Kenya

# data[].attributes.body
Jobs education natural disaster etc.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly immigrate from Korea, China, Japan and France because there might be war or there are bad jobs there a on they want to change there life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How many refugees arrive in the US each year?

The number of refugees entering the US has increased over the past decade but it has remained relatively stable over the past few years. It is significantly lower than the levels seen in the early 80s and the early 90s.

At total of 69,920 refugees arrived in 2015, with 18,386 of these coming from Burma - the most from any one country.

As many as 12,676 came from Iraq, while 8,858 were from Somalia, 3,109 were from Iran, 1,682 were from Syria, 1,578 from Sudan and just 16 came from Yemen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mapped: How many immigrants does America get and where do they actually come from?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The number of refugees entering the US has increased over the past decade but it has remained relatively stable over the past few years. It is significantly lower than the levels seen in the early 80s and the early 90s.

# data[].attributes.body
People mostly  immigrate from

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How many refugees arrive in the US each year?

The number of refugees entering the US has increased over the past decade but it has remained relatively stable over the past few years. It is significantly lower than the levels seen in the early 80s and the early 90s.

At total of 69,920 refugees arrived in 2015, with 18,386 of these coming from Burma - the most from any one country.

As many as 12,676 came from Iraq, while 8,858 were from Somalia, 3,109 were from Iran, 1,682 were from Syria, 1,578 from Sudan and just 16 came from Yemen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mapped: How many immigrants does America get and where do they actually come from?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The number of refugees entering the US has increased over the past decade but it has remained relatively stable over the past few years. It is significantly lower than the levels seen in the early 80s and the early 90s.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly immigrate from China.
Seven Countries Sending the Most People to America. Roughly 138 million people worldwide, or about 2% of the world's adult population, want to immigrate to the United States. In China, as many as 19 million adults would like to move to the land of opportunity — the largest number of any country.Apr 3, 2013
And yes,this is from Google.

# data[].attributes.body
Most people immigrate from India,Mexico,China,Canada, and South Korea.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The United States is in the midst of an historic period in its immigration history, facing a changing composition of the immigrant population, pandemic-related pent-up demand for permanent and temporary visas resulting in extensive backlogs, record pressure at the U.S.-Mexico border, and somewhat decreasing public support for expanded immigration.

Legal permanent and temporary immigration rose in 2022 after a few years of chill brought about by the COVID-19 public-health crisis and the Trump administration's restrictive policies and rhetoric. Amid crises around the world, the Biden administration extended or expanded Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for certain eligible immigrants already in the United States and announced special humanitarian parole programs allowing some migrants from several countries to enter the United States and stay temporarily.

At the southwest border, record numbers of migrant encounters in 2022 accompanied court orders preventing the Biden administration from revoking the Title 42 public-health order authorizing the rapid expulsion of asylum seekers and other migrants. The administration has proposed a revised system to govern asylum at the border, but as of this writing the situation remains in flux. To promote orderly arrival and processing of asylum seekers and expedite the expulsion of unauthorized migrants, in January 2023 the Biden administration announced another humanitarian parole program to include up to 30,000 authorized newcomers from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela every month if they have a U.S. sponsor. This program was followed by controversial proposed changes to U.S. asylum system.

Worldwide, the United States is home to more international migrants than any other country, and more than the next four countries-Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United Kingdom-combined, according to the UN Population Division's mid-2020 data. While the U.S. population represents about 5 percent of the total world population, close to 20 percent of all global migrants reside in the United States.

This Spotlight offers information about the approximately 45.3 million immigrants in the United States as of 2021, by compiling the most authoritative and current data available. It provides an overview of historic immigration trends in the United States, sociodemographic information about who is immigrating, through which channels, and how many immigrants become naturalized citizens. It also provides data on the government's enforcement actions and adjudication efforts to process visas.

This article draws on statistics from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI); the U.S. Census Bureau (using its 2021 American Community Survey [ACS], 2022 Current Population Survey [CPS], and 2000 decennial census); and the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and State. (Note: DHS and State Department data refer to fiscal years that begin on October 1 and end on September 30; ACS and CPS data refer to calendar years). For more detailed information on U.S. and global immigration data sources and one-click access to these datasets, see the MPI report Immigration Data Matters. All the data tools and maps linked to in this article also can be accessed through MPI's Migration Data Hub.
Download a PDF Version
Click on the bullet points for more information on each topic:

Immigrants Now and Historically
How many immigrants reside in the United States?
Nearly 45.3 million immigrants lived in the United States in 2021, the most since census records have been kept. In 2021, immigrants comprised 13.6 percent of the total U.S. population, a figure that remains short of the record high of 14.8 percent in 1890 and slightly below the 13.7 percent share they comprised in 2019.

The foreign-born population remained largely flat between 2019 and 2021, with an increase of 337,000 people, or growth of less than 1 percent. While the immigrant population has generally been growing, the increase over the last two years was smaller than the change from 2017 to 2019 (407,000) and much smaller than between 2014 and 2016 (1.3 million). The slowing growth of the immigrant population over the past few years is mirrored by the slowing growth of the overall U.S. population since 2015.
Note: 2020 was an unusual year in many ways, including in immigration flows and in data collection efforts. Many fewer people were able to move across international borders because of pandemic-related border restrictions and policies of sending and receiving countries alike. At the same time, the U.S. Census Bureau experienced significant challenges collecting data in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and released only a few data points from its 2020 ACS. Because of these data challenges, it is difficult to assess the real extent of the changes in the last couple of years. How have the number and share of immigrants changed over time?
In 1850, the first year the United States began collecting nativity data through the census, the country had 2.2 million immigrants, representing nearly 10 percent of the total population.

Between 1860 and 1920, immigrants' share of the population fluctuated between 13 percent and 15 percent, peaking at 14.8 percent in 1890 amid high levels of immigration from Europe. Restrictive immigration laws in 1921 and 1924 limited permanent immigration almost exclusively to those from Northern and Western Europe. Combined with the Great Depression and onset of World War II, this led to a sharp drop in new arrivals from the Eastern Hemisphere. The foreign-born share steadily declined, hitting a record low of 4.7 percent (or 9.6 million immigrants) in 1970 (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Size and Share of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States, 1850-2021
Sources: Migration Policy Institute (MPI) tabulation of data from U.S. Census Bureau, 2010-21 American Community Surveys (ACS), and 1970, 1990, and 2000 decennial census. All other data are from Campbell J. Gibson and Emily Lennon, "Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850 to 1990" (Working Paper no. 29, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, 1999).

Since 1970, the share and number of immigrants had increased rapidly, mainly because of increased immigration from Latin America and Asia following important shifts in U.S. immigration law such as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished national-origin admission quotas, the creation of a formal refugee resettlement program with the Refugee Act of 1980, and the Cold War-era grant of preferential treatment to Cuban immigrants. Other factors were the United States' growing economic and military presence in Asia and Latin America, as well as economic and social ties with the United States' southern neighbors, and major economic transformations and political instability in countries around the world. It remains unclear whether the recent leveling off represents a change in the long-term trend or a temporary blip.
Where are most immigrants from originally?
Mexicans are the largest group of U.S. immigrants, comprising 24 percent of the total immigrant population in 2021, which is a decline from 30 percent in 2000. India and China (including Hong Kong and Macao but not Taiwan) were the next two largest sending countries, accounting for approximately 6 and 5 percent, respectively, of the overall foreign-born population. Other top countries of origin include the Philippines (4 percent); El Salvador, Vietnam, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic (each 3 percent); and Guatemala and Korea (each 2 percent).

Together, these ten countries accounted for 56 percent of all immigrants in the United States in 2021.
How do today's top countries of origin compare to those of the past?
The large numbers of immigrants from Latin America and Asia in recent decades represent a sharp turnaround from the mid-1900s, when immigration largely came from Europe. In the 1960s, no single country accounted for more than 15 percent of the U.S. immigrant population, but Italians were the top origin group, making up 13 percent of the foreign born in 1960, followed by Germans and Canadians (about 10 percent each).

Immigrants from Mexico have been the most numerous since 1980, but the composition of new arrivals has changed since 2010. Now, immigrants are more likely to come from Asia, especially India and China. In fact, these two nations displaced Mexico as the top origin countries for new arrivals from 2013 to 2021, but amid the pandemic and related mobility restrictions Mexico has regained its position as the origin of most new arrivals.

In terms of the total size, the immigrant population from India increased by 929,000 and from China/Hong Kong by 572,000 between 2010 and 2021. In contrast, the number of Mexican immigrants in the United States declined by more than 1 million during the same period, representing the largest absolute decline of all immigrant groups.

The number of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil, Nigeria, Colombia, the Philippines, and El Salvador has increased by at least 200,000 each since 2010. Among the groups numbering at least 100,000 in 2021, the Venezuelan immigrant population increased by the fastest rate between 2010 and 2021 (by 196 percent), followed by immigrants from Nepal (151 percent), Afghanistan (127 percent), Myanmar (also known as Burma, 111 percent), and Nigeria (102 percent). In comparison, the total foreign-born population grew by 13 percent between 2010 and 2021.
How long have current immigrants resided in the United States?
Forty-eight percent of all immigrants in the United States in 2021 arrived prior to 2000 (28 percent entered before 1990 and 20 percent between 1990 and 1999), 24 percent entered between 2000 and 2009, and 28 percent have come since 2010.
How many U.S. residents are from immigrant families?
Immigrants and their U.S.-born children number approximately 87.7 million people, or close to 27 percent of the U.S. population in the 2022 CPS, an increase of approximately 14.7 million (or 20 percent) from 2010.

Demographic, Educational, and Linguistic Characteristics
What is the median age for immigrants?
The immigrant population's median age in 2021 was 47 years, making it older than the U.S.-born population, which had a median age of 37 years. One reason for this difference is that immigrants arrive largely as adults, whereas immigrants' children born in the United States contribute to the younger median age of the native-born population.

Fewer than 1 percent of immigrants were under age 5 in 2021, compared to 6 percent of the U.S.-born population. Children and youth ages 5 to 17 accounted for 5 percent of immigrants and 18 percent of the U.S. born. People of working age (18 to 64 years) comprised 77 percent of the immigrant population, a much higher figure than the 59 percent of those born in the United States. Approximately 17 percent of both immigrants and the U.S. born were 65 years and older.
What is the sex ratio of the immigrant population?
About 51 percent of all U.S. immigrants were female in 2021, compared to 50 percent of the native born. The share has fluctuated slightly over the past four decades, but immigrant women and girls tend to be a slight majority over men and boys. They accounted for 53 percent of the immigrant population in 1980, 51 percent in 1990, 50 percent in 2000, and 51 percent in 2010.
What is the racial makeup of immigrants?
In 2021, 27 percent as Asian of immigrants reported their race as single-race Asian, 21 percent as White, 9 percent as Black, and 20 percent as some other race. About 22 percent reported having two or more races.
Note: These statistics reflect changes in how the Census Bureau asks about race that have been made since the 2020 decennial census. How many immigrants are Hispanic or Latino?
In 2021, 44 percent of U.S. immigrants (19.9 million people) reported having Hispanic or Latino ethnic origins.

Note: The Census Bureau classifies Hispanic and Latino as ethnic categories, separate from the racial categories listed above (see Definitions box for more information).
How many Hispanics in the United States are immigrants?
Most U.S. Hispanics are U.S. born. Of the 62.5 million people in 2021 who self-identified as Hispanic or Latino, 32 percent (19.9 million) were immigrants and 68 percent (42.6 million) were native born.
Which languages are most frequently spoken at home?
Regardless of nativity, in 2021 approximately 78 percent (245.5 million) of all 313.2 million U.S. residents ages 5 and older reported speaking only English at home. The remaining 22 percent (67.8 million) reported speaking a language other than English at home.

Among those who reported speaking a language other than English at home, 61 percent spoke Spanish. Other top languages were Chinese (including Mandarin and Cantonese, 5 percent); Tagalog (almost 3 percent); and Vietnamese, Arabic, French (including Cajun), and Korean (about 2 percent each) (see Table 1).
Table 1. Top Languages Spoken at Home Other than English (ages 5 and older), 2021
Note: Table shows languages with at least 500,000 speakers.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2021 ACS.

Not including English, Spanish was the most common language spoken at home in all but three states: Hawaii (Ilocano) and Maine and Vermont (French). Not including English or Spanish, Chinese, German, French and Vietnamese were among the commonly spoken languages (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. Map of Most Commonly Spoken Languages other than English and Spanish by State, 2021
Notes: Chinese includes Mandarin and Cantonese; Dakota+ includes Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, and Sioux; French includes Cajun; German includes Pennsylvania Dutch and Swiss; and Tagalog includes Filipino.
Sources: MPI analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2021 ACS for the United States.
How many immigrants are Limited English Proficient (LEP)?
In 2021, approximately 46 percent (20.8 million) of the 45 million immigrants ages 5 and older were Limited English Proficient (LEP). Immigrants accounted for 80 percent of the country's 25.9 million LEP individuals.

Note: The term "Limited English Proficient" refers to persons ages 5 and older who indicated on the ACS questionnaire that they spoke English less than "very well."

What share of the immigrant population has a college education?

In 2021, 34 percent (13.6 million) of the 40.2 million immigrants ages 25 and older had a bachelor's degree or higher, a rate similar to that of U.S.-born adults (see Figure 3). However, newer arrivals tend to be better educated; 47 percent of immigrants who entered the country between 2017 and 2021 held at least a bachelor's degree.
Figure 3. Educational Attainment of U.S.-Born, Immigrant, and Recently Arrived Immigrant Adults, 2021
Note: Data are for adults ages 25 and older. Recently arrived immigrants are those who entered the United States between 2017 and 2021.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2021 ACS.

Educational attainment levels vary by immigrants' countries of origin. Approximately 80 percent of immigrant adults from India had a bachelor's degree or more in 2021, more than any other origin country. Other top countries were the United Arab Emirates (78 percent), Saudi Arabia (77 percent), Taiwan (73 percent), Bulgaria, France, and Singapore (67 percent each). Among immigrants who arrived between 2017 and 2021, the share who were college graduates was the highest among Indians (86 percent), followed by those from France, Taiwan, and Spain (between 81 percent and 82 percent). The college-educated share is also high among Venezuelans, who represent the fastest growing U.S. immigrant group. Fifty-seven percent of all Venezuelan immigrant adults and 62 percent of recent arrivals have at least a bachelor's degree.

Immigrant Destinations
Which U.S. states have the largest numbers of immigrants?
The U.S. states with the most immigrants in 2021 were California (10.5 million), Texas (5.1 million), Florida (4.6 million), New York (4.4 million), and New Jersey (2.1 million).

As a percentage of the total population, immigrants made up the largest shares in California (27 percent), New Jersey (23 percent), New York (22 percent), Florida (21 percent), Hawaii (19 percent), and Nevada (18 percent).

For more information on the top states of residence for the foreign born over time, see the interactive tool Immigrant Population by State, 1990-Present.

Want to know where immigrants from a particular region or country of origin settled in the United States? The Migration Data Hub's interactive maps show top immigrant concentrations at state and county or metropolitan-area levels.

Which states have experienced the fastest growth of their immigrant populations?
Traditional immigrant destinations have the largest absolute number of new immigrants, but other states have seen much larger relative growth in their immigrant populations. In some cases, this is because the states' initial foreign-born populations were quite small, so a relatively small absolute increase has translated into high-percent growth (see Table 2). For instance, more immigrants moved to Florida between 2010 and 2021 than any other state (951,000), but the size of the immigrant population in North Dakota grew by the largest relative share (103 percent).
Table 2. Top States by Absolute and Percent Growth in Immigrant Population, 2010-21
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2010 and 2021 American Community Surveys (ACS).

Immigrants in the Labor Force
How many immigrants are in the U.S. civilian labor force?
Immigrants constituted 17 percent (28.6 million people) of the civilian labor force (166.9 million) in 2021, which comprises both employed and unemployed people. Immigrants' share of the labor force has more than tripled since 1970, when they accounted for approximately 5 percent of the civilian labor force.
What types of jobs do immigrants perform?
Of the 26.8 million employed foreign-born workers ages 16 and older in 2021, the largest share (37 percent) worked in management, professional, and related occupations (see Figure 4).
Figure 4. Employed Workers in the U.S. Civilian Labor Force (ages 16 and older), by Nativity and Occupation, 2021
Note: Numbers may not add up to 100 as they are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2021 ACS.

Income and Poverty

Immigrants tend to have very similar incomes to the native born. Immigrant households in 2021 had a median income of $69,622, compared to $69,734 for native-born households.

Fourteen percent of immigrants were poor (that is, with family incomes below the official poverty threshold of $27,500 for a family of four with two children in 2021), compared to 13 percent of the U.S. born.

Health Insurance Coverage
What share of immigrants have health insurance?
Approximately 57 percent of immigrants had private health insurance in 2021 (compared to 69 percent of the U.S. born), and 32 percent had public health insurance coverage (compared to 38 percent of the U.S. born). Meanwhile, 19 percent lacked health insurance (compared to 7 percent of the U.S. born).

Since implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2014, health insurance coverage rates have improved for the U.S. population as a whole. In 2013, 32 percent of immigrants were uninsured (compared to 12 percent for the native born), a number that fell to 20 percent in 2017 (and 7 percent for the native born). The Trump administration made multiple changes to ACA policies, including eliminating the individual coverage mandate penalty, ending cost-sharing subsidies to insurers, and cutting funding for navigator programs. The rates of those uninsured have since remained mostly level.

Note: Health insurance coverage is calculated only for the civilian, noninstitutionalized population. Since some people may simultaneously hold both private and public health insurance coverage, estimates of those with public health insurance and those with public coverage may overlap. The sum of these rates therefore may be greater than the total share of people with health insurance.

Children of Immigrants
How many U.S. children live with immigrant parents?
Approximately 18 million U.S. children under age 18 lived with at least one immigrant parent in 2021. They accounted for 26 percent of the 69.7 million children under age 18 in the United States, up from 19 percent in 2000 and 13 percent in 1990.

Most of these children are native born. Second-generation immigrant children born in the United States to at least one foreign-born parent accounted for 88 percent (15.8 million) of all children with immigrant parents. The remaining 12 percent (2.2 million) were born outside the United States.
Note: The data here include only children between ages 0 and 17 (regardless of nativity) who reside with at least one parent. This means that the number of children shown here is smaller than the overall number of U.S. children under 18. Since 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau includes children of same-sex married couples in its count of children in families and subfamilies. How has the number of children in immigrant families changed over time?
Between 2010 and 2021, the number of children ages 17 and under with immigrant parents grew by 6 percent, from 17 million to 18 million. This was a significantly smaller rate of growth than during the era from 2000-2010, when the number grew by 30 percent, from 13.1 million.

This growth has been driven by the steadily increasing number of U.S.-born children born with immigrant parents. Their numbers increased by 9 percent between 2010 and 2021, from 14.6 million up to 15.8 million. This followed rapid growth of 40 percent between 2000-when their population was 10.4 million-to 2010.

Meanwhile, the population of first-generation immigrant children has declined over the last 20 years. It dropped by 8 percent between 2010 and 2021, from 2.4 million to 2.2 million, after a 12 percent decline from 2000 to 2010, at the start of which there were 2.7 million first-generation immigrant children.
How many children living with immigrant parents are in low-income families?
Regardless of nativity, 25.1 million children under 18 lived in families with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold in 2021 (amounting to $55,000 for a family of four with two children). Of them, 7.7 million (or 31 percent) had one or more foreign-born parent.

Of the 18 million children of immigrants, 43 percent were in low-income families, a higher rate than for children of U.S.-born parents (34 percent of the 51.6 million).
In which states do most children in immigrant families live?
In terms of absolute numbers, the top states for children under age 18 living with immigrant parents in 2021 were California (3.8 million), Texas (2.4 million), New York and Florida (1.4 million each), and New Jersey (803,000). These states accounted for 55 percent of the 18 million U.S. children with immigrant parents.

In terms of the share of children who had immigrant parents, the top states in 2021 were California (where 46 percent of all children had immigrant parents), New Jersey (41 percent), New York (37 percent), and Florida and Nevada (35 percent each).
Which states have experienced the fastest growth of the number of children in immigrant families?
Traditional immigrant destinations such as Florida and Texas experienced the largest absolute growth in the number of children with immigrant parents between 2010 and 2021, but other states have seen much larger relative growth (see Table 3). In states such as North Dakota, the initial number of children with immigrant parents was quite small, so relatively small absolute increases have translated into high-percent growth.
Table 3. Top U.S. States by Absolute and Percent Growth in Children with Immigrant Parents, 2010-21
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2010 and 2021 ACS.
How many immigrants obtain lawful permanent residence (also known as getting a green card)?
Permanent Immigration

In fiscal year (FY) 2021, 740,000 immigrants became lawful permanent residents (LPRs, also known as green-card holders). This was a 5 percent increase over the 707,000 new green cards issued in FY 2020, which covered the end of the Trump administration and the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic and marked the lowest number since 2003 and the first time the figure dropped below 1 million since 2013, when 991,000 people obtained green cards. The number of new LPRs in FY 2021 represented a decrease of 444,000 (37 percent) from the recent high of almost 1.2 million in FY 2016.

Much of the recent decline in new LPRs is due to the fewer granted to individuals living outside the country, as result of processing and other delays during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past decade, immigrants obtaining LPR status have been about evenly divided between those already living in the United States who are adjusting their status and those applying from abroad. But in FY 2021, the 227,000 new green cards issued to applicants abroad represented just 31 percent of the total, and an almost 50 percent decline from the nearly 454,000 issued in FY 2019. The overwhelming majority of these new arrivals (83 percent) were immediate family members of U.S. citizens and LPRs.
Under which categories are permanent immigrants admitted?
Meanwhile, approximately 69 percent (513,000) of the 740,000 new LPRs in FY 2021 received green cards from within the United States. Most of these new permanent residents were spouses, children, and parents of U.S. citizens and LPRs, followed by people who obtained their green cards through employment or after initially entering the country as refugees and asylees.

There are four main pathways to obtain a green card: through a family relationship, employment sponsorship, humanitarian protection (for refugees and asylees), and the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery (also known as the green-card lottery). Some categories within these pathways are capped at the number of new green cards that can be issued each year.
What are the most common countries of origin for new permanent immigrants?
Of the 740,000 immigrants receiving green cards in FY 2021, 52 percent were immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (an uncapped visa category), followed by 9 percent who were family-related immigrants (whose admission is limited by visa and country caps). About 26 percent of new LPRs were sponsored by their employers or self-petitioned, including investors who create jobs, a jump from 21 percent of new LPRs in FY 2020 and 14 percent in FY 2019. Meanwhile, 8 percent adjusted from refugee or asylee status and approximately 2 percent were diversity lottery winners.
How many people are selected in the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery and where do they come from?
The top six countries of birth for new LPRs in FY 2021 were Mexico (14 percent), India (13 percent), mainland China (7 percent), the Philippines (4 percent), and the Dominican Republic and Cuba (3 percent apiece). Together, these countries represented about 44 percent of all new green-card recipients in FY 2021.

The Diversity Visa lottery is available to individuals from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Created in 1990, the lottery sets aside 55,000 green cards annually, of which 5,000 must be used for applicants under the Nicaraguan and Central America Relief Act of 1997.

Interest in the lottery is significantly higher than the amount of available visas; about 6.7 million qualified applications were filed for the DV-2021, covering 11.8 million applicants plus their spouses and minor children. This number was down from 14.7 million applications in DV-2020 and 14.4 million in DV-2019. (The number of applications varies each year in part because the list of eligible countries is modified annually.) Before receiving permission to immigrate, lottery winners must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent or show two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience. They also must pass a medical exam and a background check.

In FY 2021, 15,000 people received a green card as diversity immigrants, representing approximately 2 percent of the 740,000 new LPRs. The two leading countries of birth of DV recipients were Nepal and Ukraine, together accounting for about 13 percent of the 15,000 DV recipients in FY 2021. Other top countries of origin were Morocco and Algeria (5 percent each), followed by Albania, Cameroon, Venezuela, and Turkey (4 percent each).

For some countries, the Diversity Visa lottery represents a major share of all new LPRs. For example, 40 percent of all nationals of Fiji and 38 percent of those from Algeria who obtained LPR status in FY 2021 did so through the green-card lottery. Shares were also high for nationals of Tajikistan (31 percent), Djibouti (27 percent), and Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and Albania (26 percent).

Read the most recent State Department Visa Bulletin for more on the DV lottery.
How many nonimmigrant visas does the State Department issue each year?
Temporary Visas

The 6.8 million nonimmigrant visas issued by the State Department in FY 2022-which include tourists and other short-term visitors-represented a non-surprising, post-pandemic rapid increase of 144 percent from the 2.8 million issued in FY 2021, the lowest number since 1996.

Sixty-six percent of nonimmigrant visas issued in FY 2022 were temporary business and tourist visas (B and BCC visas). The next largest visa class was for academic students and exchange visitors and their family members (F and J visa categories) and temporary workers and trainees and their family members (H visa categories), which each comprised about 11 percent.

The COVID-19 pandemic and Trump administration's travel ban were some of the reasons for the sharp decline in nonimmigrant visa issuances in FY 2021. In FY 2022, the State Department began to issue visas at a rate surpassing pre-COVID levels in categories for students as well as temporary workers, trainees, and their family members. For these nonimmigrant visas (temporary workers, research scholars, short-term scholars, and specialists included), the State Department has waived the interview requirement in an attempt to reduce wait times to enter the country.
How many temporary employment-based visas does the State Department issue each year?
Note: The number of visas issued does not necessarily match the number of foreign nationals who entered the United States that year because some nonimmigrant visas may not be used.
Note: Temporary workers and trainees include workers in specialty occupations (H-1B visa), seasonal agricultural workers (H-2A), seasonal nonagricultural workers (H-2B), workers with extraordinary ability or achievements (O-1 and O-2), athletes and artists (P-1, P-2, and P-3), intracompany transferees (L-1), treaty traders and investors (E-1, E-2, and E-3), people working for employers in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and their immediate families (CW-1 and CW-2), representatives of foreign information media (I-1), workers in international cultural exchange programs (Q-1), workers in religious occupations (R-1), and TN visas reserved for Canadian and Mexican professionals, as well as their spouses and minor children. How many nonimmigrant admissions does DHS grant each year?
Roughly 1 million foreign nationals (along with their immediate family members) receive employment-based temporary visas each year. In FY 2022, the Department of State issued a total of 1.1 million such visas in multiple categories, up from 965,000 in FY 2019. Among these were approximately 298,000 H-2A seasonal agriculture workers visas, 208,000 H-1B specialty occupation worker visas, 125,000 H-2B seasonal nonagricultural worker, and 73,000 L-1 intracompany transferee visas.

Foreign nationals were admitted into the United States for nonimmigrant purposes 35.3 million times in FY 2021-a 59 percent decrease from the 86.1 million in FY 2020 and an 81 percent decrease from the 186.2 million in FY 2019. Of the 35.3 million admissions, 21.7 million were admissions of Canadians and Mexicans traveling for business or pleasure, who are exempt from completing the I-94 arrival/departure form at the port of entry; DHS does not provide characteristics for this group.

The remaining 13.6 million temporary admissions of nonimmigrants who filled out the I-94 form were 63 percent fewer than the 37.2 million admissions a year earlier and 83 percent fewer than the 81.6 million in 2019.
Table 4. Nonimmigrant Admissions by Category, FY 2021 (I-94 only)
Most of the I-94 admissions in FY 2021 were those of tourists (66 percent) or temporary workers and their families (14 percent), followed by business travelers (10 percent; see Table 4).

Notes: Nonimmigrant admissions represent the number of entries. Individuals may have multiple entries within the year. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Immigration Statistics only reports characteristics of nonimmigrants who must complete an I-94 arrival/departure form at entry.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from DHS, 2021 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (Washington, DC: DHS Office of Immigration Statistics, 2022), available online.

These data are for the number of times people were admitted into the country-not the number of individuals who were admitted (in other words, a single individual can be admitted multiple times in a year). Often, temporary visitors stay in the United States for only a short period, such as for the duration of their vacation or business trip.
Note: Nonimmigrant admissions represent the number of entries. Individuals may have multiple entries within the year. How many U.S. residents have temporary visas?
Only once has the DHS Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS) estimated the number of individuals who came temporarily, in FY 2016. For that year, DHS estimated that 42.7 million individuals entered as I-94 nonimmigrants on various temporary visas, each of whom was admitted 1.8 times on average. Of these nonimmigrants, 34.2 million entered as tourists and 3.7 million entered as business visitors; 15 million tourists and 1.7 million business travelers were from Visa Waiver Program countries, meaning they did not need a visa to enter the United States. An additional 1 million international students entered on F-1 visas. OIS additionally estimated that about 290,000 individuals were admitted on high-skilled worker H-1B visas (mostly from India, China, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Mexico) and nearly 82,00 on nonagricultural temporary or seasonal worker H-2B visas (mostly from Mexico, Jamaica, Guatemala, South Africa, and Canada).

Approximately 3.2 million foreign nationals on various temporary visas resided in the United States during FY 2019, according to the most recent available data from DHS, up from about 2.8 million in FY 2018. About half (1.6 million) were temporary workers and their families, followed by 35 percent who were foreign students and their families (1.1 million).

Sixty percent of temporary-visa holders residing in the United States were from Asia, 17 percent were from elsewhere in North America, and 14 percent were from Europe. The top countries of origin were India (27 percent), China (14 percent), Mexico (9 percent), Canada (6 percent), and South Korea (3 percent). Together, these five countries accounted for approximately 60 percent of all foreign-born U.S. residents on temporary visas.

Note: The population of residents holding temporary visas includes temporary workers, international students, exchange visitors, diplomats, and representatives of foreign governments and international organizations. It excludes tourists and other short-term visitors. North America includes Bermuda, Canada, the Caribbean, and Central America.
How many refugees enter the United States each year, and where were they from?
Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Every year, the president in consultation with Congress sets the annual refugee admissions ceiling and allocations by region of origin. The Biden administration set the ceiling at 125,000 each for FY 2022 and FY 2023, an increase from the revised FY 2021 limit of 62,500 (the Trump administration had originally set the FY 2021 ceiling at 15,000, but the Biden administration modified it after entering office). The lowest limit since the resettlement program was formally created in 1980 was set by the Trump administration for FY 2020, at 18,000.

This number is a ceiling, and the number of resettled refugees does not always reach this limit. Due to the reduced capacity of the resettlement program and COVID-19-related logistic challenges, slightly fewer than 25,500 refugees were resettled in the United States in FY 2022, amounting to 20 percent of the 125,000 allocated spaces for the year. For the first five months of FY 2023 (October 2022 through February 2023), 12,300 refugees arrived in the United States, which is 10 percent of the number of available spaces.
Table 5. Top Countries of Refugee Admissions by Nationality, FY 2022
In FY 2022, refugees' primary countries of nationality were the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Myanmar, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. Combined, the nearly 19,400 refugees from these countries accounted for 76 percent of all refugees resettled that year. Another 2,600 refugees were resettled from Guatemala, El Salvador, Moldova, and Iraq. Together, nationals of these ten countries comprised 87 percent (more than 22,000) of all refugee arrivals in FY 2022 (see Table 5).
What is the sex ratio and median age of the admitted refugee population?
Source: MPI tabulation of Worldwide Refugee Admissions Processing System (WRAPS) data from the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, available online.
What are the most common religions of admitted refugees?
About 49 percent of refugees admitted into the United States in FY 2021 were female. The median age of all FY 2021 arrivals was 22 years old.

Refugees who identified as Christian made up 57 percent of all admitted refugees in FY 2022. Muslim refugees comprised 39 percent of admitted refugees. The remainder included Buddhists (2 percent), Hindus and Jews (less than 0.2 percent combined), and those who reported no religious affiliation or being atheists (about 2 percent).
Note: Refugee demographic data is based on self-identification, so religious breakdowns include major religions as well as denominations. What are the most common languages spoken by refugees?
Overall, the largest share of refugees admitted to the United States have been Christians. Between FY 2010 and FY 2022, Christians represented 48 percent (307,800) of the 637,800 refugees, compared to 34 percent (214,400) who were Muslim. FY 2016 marked the only year since 2010 when the United States resettled more Muslim refugees (38,900 individuals, or 46 percent of the total 85,000 refugees resettled that year) than Christians (37,500 individuals, or 44 percent of the total).
How many asylum applications are filed each year?
In FY 2020, the top languages spoken by refugees were Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic, and Kiswahili. Rounding out the top ten were Spanish, Kinyarwanda, Sgaw Karen, Kibembe, Tigrinya, and Dari. Speakers of these ten languages made up 71 percent of all refugees resettled that year.

In FY 2022, nearly 198,000 affirmative applications were filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), representing a 224 percent increase from FY 2021 and the highest number of affirmative applications filed since FY 2017.
What is the asylum approval rate?
Meanwhile, 226,000 defensive asylum applications were filed with the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) in FY 2022. This was the most on record and marks a significant increase from FY 2021, when 65,000 applications were filed.
What is the current asylum application backlog?
The approval rate in FY 2022 for asylum applications filed with USCIS was 34 percent, an increase from 28 percent in FY 2021. Approval rates from applications filed through EOIR also increased, to 47 percent in FY 2022 up from 34 percent in FY 2021.
How many people receive asylum status?
Due to the large application volume and limited resources, both the affirmative and defensive asylum systems have extensive backlogs. Based on USCIS data, the backlog in September 2022 was 605,000 cases, up from nearly 413,000 at the end of FY 2021. In FY 2022, the total backlog for EOIR (including affirmative and defensive claims) was 703,000, down from 714,000 in FY 2021.

In FY 2021, 17,700 individuals were granted asylum after seeking protection upon or after arrival in the United States, including principal applicants, their spouses, and unmarried children under age 21. This represented a 43 percent decrease from the almost 31,000 grants in FY 2020 and a 61 drop from the 46,000 people granted asylum in FY 2019. In FY 2021, an additional 2,150 individuals received derivative asylum status in the United States as immediate family members of principal applicants and 2,170 were approved for derivative status outside the United States. (Note that this number reflects travel documents issued to these family members, not their arrival in the United States.)
Where are most asylum seekers from?
Fifty-eight percent of asylum grants came affirmatively through USCIS (rather than defensively through the immigration courts), of which there were 10,300 in FY 2021, down 37 percent from 16,400 in FY 2020 and 62 percent from 27,000 in FY 2019, the highest since FY 2003.

Venezuela was the top country of origin for those receiving asylum in FY 2021, with 2,100 people (or 12 percent of total asylum grants), followed closely by China, with close to 2,000 individuals (11 percent). Other top countries of origin were El Salvador (with 1,500 individuals), Guatemala (1,300), and Turkey (1,100). Together, nationals of these five countries made up 45 percent of those receiving asylum in FY 2021.
How many unauthorized immigrants are in the United States?
Unauthorized Immigrants
Figure 5. Citizenship and Legal Status of the U.S. Foreign-Born Population, 2019
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimates there were about 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States in 2019, accounting for 23 percent of the U.S. immigrant population. The unauthorized population was largely stable in size from 2007 to 2019. While more recent data are yet not available, the population has likely increased since 2019, due to the large number of border arrivals in recent years.

Notes: DACA is Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and TPS is Temporary Protected Status.
Sources: These 2019 data result from MPI analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2015-19 American Community Survey (ACS), pooled, and the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), weighted to 2019 unauthorized immigrant population estimates provided by Jennifer Van Hook. Data on DACA recipients are from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), "Approximate Active DACA Recipients: As of June 30, 2019," accessed December 8, 2021, available online. Data on TPS beneficiaries are from Jill H. Wilson, Temporary Protected Status: Overview and Current Issues (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2018), available online. Data on asylum seekers are from USCIS, "Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization, All Receipts, Approvals, Denials Grouped by Eligibility Category and Filing Type," accessed December 8, 2021, available online.
What are unauthorized immigrants' countries of birth?
Almost half of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants resided in three states as of 2019: California (25 percent), Texas (16 percent), and New York (8 percent). The vast majority (81 percent) lived in 176 counties with 10,000 or more unauthorized immigrants each, of which the top five-Los Angeles County, California; Harris County, Texas; Dallas County, Texas; Cook County, Illinois; and Orange County, California-accounted for 20 percent of all unauthorized immigrants.

Mexicans and Central Americans accounted for roughly two-thirds (67 percent, or 7.4 million) of U.S. unauthorized immigrants in 2019, according to MPI estimates. About 1.7 million (15 percent) were from Asia; 907,000 (8 percent) from South America; 440,000 (4 percent) from Europe, Canada, or Oceania; 327,000 (3 percent) from the Caribbean; and 295,000 (3 percent) from Africa.
How many unauthorized immigrants live with children under age 18?
Unauthorized immigrants' top countries of birth were Mexico (48 percent), El Salvador and Guatemala (7 percent each), India (5 percent), and Honduras (4 percent).
How many children under age 18 live with at least one unauthorized immigrant parent?
About 4.3 million unauthorized immigrants (41 percent of all unauthorized immigrants ages 15 and older) lived with one or more children under age 18 in 2019, MPI estimates. Of this group, about 81 percent (3.5 million) resided with at least one U.S.-citizen child under age 18, and 19 percent (806,000) lived with one or more children who were not U.S. citizens.
How many people are eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program under original rules and how many applications have been received since its launch in 2012?
Approximately 5.5 million children under age 18 lived with an unauthorized immigrant parent as of 2019, representing 7 percent of the U.S. child population. About 86 percent (4.7 million) of these children were U.S. citizens, 13 percent (726,000) were themselves unauthorized, and 1 percent (61,000) were legally present, including LPRs and those with temporary visas.

The DACA program, announced in 2012, offers two years of deportation relief and work authorization to eligible young unauthorized immigrants. To be eligible, one must be at least 15 years old; have entered the United States before age 16; have continuously resided in the United States since June 15, 2007; be enrolled in school, have earned a high school diploma or its equivalent, or be an honorably discharged veteran; and have not been convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor, or three or more misdemeanors; or otherwise pose a threat to public safety or national security.

The Trump administration attempted to terminate DACA in 2017, but after multiple court challenges the program has remained alive, albeit closed to new entrants. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2020 that rescinding DACA violated federal law, and USCIS briefly began accepting new applications. The Biden administration attempted to revive and expand the program, but ongoing court challenges mean that as of this writing DHS is prohibited from granting DACA requests and accompanying requests for employment authorization made by new applicants.

MPI estimates that as of December 2022, 1.5 million individuals were eligible for DACA under its original rules, 1.2 million of whom were immediately eligible under the program's age and educational requirements (the rest were eligible aside from the education requirements or were too young but estimated to be eligible once they reached age 15).

Between August 15, 2012 (when the government began accepting applications) and September 30, 2022, nearly 835,100 applicants were approved, suggesting this is the maximum number of people who have ever held DACA status during the life of the program. USCIS granted 82 percent of the 1 million accepted initial applications; 8 percent (83,600) were denied, and 94,700 remained pending.
How many people currently have DACA status?
Among the 1 million accepted initial applications since the program's inception (as of September 30, 2022), individuals' top states of residence are California (28 percent), Texas (17 percent), Illinois and New York (5 percent each), and Florida (4 percent). The top five countries of origin of accepted applicants are Mexico (79 percent), El Salvador (4 percent), Guatemala (3 percent), Honduras (2 percent), and South Korea (1 percent).

USCIS reports that 589,660 individuals had active DACA status as of September 30, 2022.

The top states of residence for active DACA participants were California (29 percent), Texas (16 percent), and Illinois (5 percent), followed by New York, Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona (about 4 percent each).
How many people are covered by Temporary Protected Status?
Active DACA program participants' top countries of origin of were Mexico (81 percent), El Salvador (4 percent), Guatemala (3 percent), Honduras (2 percent), and Peru, South Korea, Brazil, Ecuador, and Colombia (about 1 percent each).

Since the Immigration Act of 1990, the United States has occasionally granted a form of humanitarian relief called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) when the origin countries of foreign nationals in the United States experience natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other circumstances making return unsafe. TPS offers work authorization and protection from deportation for periods of six months to 18 months. El Salvador was the first country to be designated for TPS in 1990, to protect Salvadorans who had fled its civil war. Since then, more than 20 countries have been designated for TPS.

In 2021, the Biden administration added Myanmar and Venezuela to the list of eligible countries and expanded eligibility for those from Haiti. Certain Liberians and residents of Hong Kong were designated for Deferred Enforced Departure, a similar status offering temporary protection from deportation and work authorization. In 2022, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Ukraine were also added to the list of TPS countries, and eligibility for those from South Sudan and Sudan was expanded. In January 2023, DHS extended and redesignated TPS for eligible nationals of Somalia for an additional 18 months.

Collectively, nearly 537,000 individuals in the United States had TPS as of November 2022. Sixteen countries are currently designated: Afghanistan, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen.
How many times are unauthorized immigrants stopped at the border each year?
Immigration Enforcement

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported nearly 2.8 million combined enforcement encounters at the southern and northern borders in FY 2022, a major increase from 2 million in FY 2021 and 647,000 in FY 2020, when the pandemic suppressed movement around the world.

The vast majority of these FY 2022 encounters (2.4 million) were at the U.S.-Mexico border. This is the highest number of encounters on record, beating the previous high of 1.6 million in FY 2000. Enforcement encounters at the Southwest border increased significantly starting in March 2021. Motivations for migrants seeking protection in the United States vary, but overall the rapid increase in arrivals reflects uneven economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; crises in the Americas, including major displacement from Cuba Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, as well as ongoing violence in Central America; political persecution and other factors driving emigration from China, India, Russia, and Turkey; the change in U.S. presidential administrations and perception of a unique window of opportunity; ever more sophisticated smuggling networks; and other factors.
How many families and unaccompanied children have been detained at the U.S.-Mexico border?
Notably, data on encounters refer to individual actions, not the number of people who attempted to cross the border without authorization. The Title 42 order to immediately expel migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic, which remains in place at least until mid-May 2023, has changed the consequences for individuals crossing the border, and many have responded by repeating attempts on multiple occasions, contributing to higher numbers of encounters.

In FY 2022, authorities recorded 561,000 encounters of family units (children and adults travelling as families) at the border, up from 480,000 in FY 2021. There were also 152,000 encounters of unaccompanied minors at the border in FY 2022, up from 147,000 the previous year.
Note: The term "family unit" refers to individuals-either a child under 18 years old, parent, or legal guardian-apprehended with a family member by the U.S. Border Patrol. How many people are arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within the United States each year?
Family units made up 24 percent of encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in FY 2022, unaccompanied minors comprised 6 percent, and single adults accounted for 70 percent) of all encounters. In FY 2022 the largest number of family units came from Honduras, while the plurality of unaccompanied minors were from Guatemala.
How many people are deported per year?
ICE made 142,800 administrative arrests in FY 2022, up from 74,100 the year before. The increase in administrative arrests was largely in the "other immigration violation" category, which ICE attributes to the increase in Southwest border apprehensions and the ICE's assistance to CBP in processing those arrivals.
Note: Removals and returns, which are carried out both by ICE and CBP, result in the confirmed movement of inadmissible or deportable aliens out of the United States. Title 42 expulsions carried out at the border are not included in these numbers.
In FY 2022 ICE conducted nearly 72,200 removals and 117,200 Title 42 expulsions.
How many immigrants are naturalized citizens?
Naturalization Trends

More than 24 million immigrants were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2021, accounting for approximately 53 percent of all 45.3 million immigrants and 7 percent of the total U.S. population (331.9 million).
How many immigrants become U.S. citizens annually?
Of these naturalized citizens, 37 percent were naturalized between 2010 and 2021, 27 percent between 2000 and 2009, and 36 percent prior to 2000.

USCIS naturalized about 814,0000 green-card holders in FY 2021, a 30 percent increase from the 628,000 people who became citizens in FY 2020. There were 789,100 petitions for naturalization filed in FY 2021, a decrease of 18 percent from a year earlier (968,000). At the same time, the number of denied petitions decreased by 6 percent, from 80,600 in FY 2020 to 85,200 in FY 2021.

The amount of time USCIS takes to process naturalization applications increased from an average of 5.6 months in FY 2016 to 11.5 months in FY 2021, but has since declined to 6.7 months as of the end of January 2023.

From a historical perspective, the number of annual naturalizations has increased dramatically in recent decades. On average, fewer than 120,000 LPRs became citizens each year between FY 1950 and FY 1969, 150,000 in the 1970s, 210,000 in the 1980s, 500,000 in the 1990s, 680,000 during the 2000s, and 721,000 between 2010 and 2020.
How many foreign nationals become U.S. citizens through military naturalization?
Naturalizations reached an all-time high in FY 2008, increasing 59 percent from 660,000 the prior year to 1,047,000. This came as a result of impending application fee increases and the promotion of U.S. citizenship in advance of the 2008 presidential election.
Where are newly naturalized citizens from?
In FY 2021, about 4,500 foreign-born military personnel became U.S. citizens, a 72 percent increase from FY 2020 (2,600) and roughly on par with FY 2018 (4,500).
Table 6. Top Countries of Origin of Newly Naturalized Citizens, FY 2021
Of the new U.S. citizens in FY 2021, 14 percent were born in Mexico, 7 percent in India, and 6 percent each in the Philippines and Cuba (see Table 6). Immigrants from these four countries, together with those from China, the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Jamaica, El Salvador, and Colombia accounted for 50 percent of the 814,000 immigrants who naturalized that year.
Where in the United States do newly naturalized citizens live?
Source: DHS Office of Immigration Statistics, 2021 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.

Nearly 60 percent of people naturalized as U.S. citizens in FY 2021 lived in one of five states: California (21 percent, or 171,900 individuals); Florida (13 percent, or 109,200); New York (11 percent, or 90,000); Texas (9 percent, or 77,000); and New Jersey (5 percent, or 40,000).
How many green-card holders are eligible to naturalize?
The top metropolitan areas with the largest number of new naturalizations were the greater New York (116,200), Los Angeles (80,700), Miami (68,900), Washington, DC (30,100), and Dallas (26,200) metropolitan areas. These five metro areas were the home to 40 percent of all newly naturalized citizens in FY 2021.

According to the latest available DHS estimates, about 9.2 million of the 12.9 million green-card holders residing in the United States on January 1, 2022 were eligible to become naturalized citizens based on how long they had held LPR status. The top five nationalities of LPRs eligible to naturalize were Mexico (2.5 million), China (490,000), the Philippines (360,000), Cuba (340,000), and the Dominican Republic (330,000).
How long does it take on average for green-card holders to naturalize?

See the USCIS dashboard on LPRs eligible to naturalize by country of birth, state, or metropolitan area.

On average, immigrants who became U.S. citizens in FY 2021 had previously held green cards for about seven years, the same length of time as those being naturalized in FY 2020 and a decrease from an average of eight years the three previous years. The time varied by region of origin: immigrants born in Africa spent an average of six years in LPR status before naturalization; those born in Asia, the Caribbean, and South America spent an average of seven years in that status; Europeans spent an average of eight years, new citizens from Oceania spent an average of nine years; and those from Central America spent ten years with a green card.
At what rate do immigrants naturalize?
In general, the requirements for naturalization are being at least 18 years of age, passing English and civic exams, residing in the United States with LPR status continuously for at least five years (three years for those married to a U.S. citizen).

The number of green-card holders who naturalize every year depends on many factors, including the number of people who are eligible, application processing times, and stringency and length of background checks. This number can also be affected by barriers to naturalize, such as high application fees, as well as personal motivations. For instance, green-card holders from mainland China may be less inclined to become U.S. citizens because China prohibits dual citizenship, whereas immigrants from countries that allow dual citizenship may have greater incentive.

The share of green-card holders who naturalize within a certain time period, such as within ten years of receiving a green card, varies by country and region of birth and class of admission. This is known as a naturalization rate.

Overall, 53 percent of the immigrant cohort who became LPRs in FY 2008 naturalized by FY 2018, the most recent year for which data are available. A ten-year naturalization rate was the highest for those born in Africa (76 percent) and South America (64 percent) and the lowest for LPRs from North America, including Mexico and Canada (27 percent). The ten-year naturalization rate was nearly 70 percent for Indian-born green-card holders, 60 percent for those from the Philippines, 52 percent for Cubans, 44 percent for LPRs from China, and 27 percent for Mexicans.

In terms of classes of admission, approximately 68 percent of humanitarian migrants and employment-based green-card holders who became LPRs in FY 2008 had become naturalized citizens by FY 2018. Ten-year naturalization rates were lower for those who were immediate relatives of U.S. citizens or other family members of U.S. citizens and LPRs (about 47 percent each).
How many visa applications for permanent immigration (green cards) are backlogged?
Visa Backlogs

Because of limits on certain visa categories and per-country caps, the U.S. government in some cases is still processing applications that are more than two decades old. In March 2023, the State Department was processing some family-sponsored visa applications dating to November 1997, and employment-related visa applications from June 2012.

Nearly 4.1 million applicants (including spouses and minor children) were on the State Department's immigrant visa waiting list as of November 1, 2022, a 1 percent decline from the more than 4.1 million applicants in the backlog a year previous.

The overwhelming majority of backlogs were among family-sponsored applicants (more than 3.9 million, including principal applicants and their immediate family members). About 168,000 backlogged applicants were for employment-sponsored channels and their families.

Of the overall 4.1 million applicants, the largest number (1.2 million) were citizens of Mexico, followed by those from the Philippines (296,000), India (294,000), the Dominican Republic (284,000), and Vietnam (229,000). Family- and employment-based prospective immigrants already within the United States who are waiting to adjust their status are not included in the State Department estimates.

USCIS also publishes backlog statistics for petitions approved in one of the five employment-based categories. As of March 2022 (the latest available data as of this writing), nearly 497,000 approved employment-based immigrant petitions were awaiting a priority date. This figure corresponds to the number of primary applicants covered by these petitions but excludes their dependents. To MPI's knowledge, USCIS has not published backlog statistics on other types of green-card applications the agency adjudicates.

In other words, the overall number of people waiting for a green card-within and outside the United States-is likely to be larger than the nearly 4.1 million applicants reported by the State Department (as of November 2022) and 497,000 reported by USCIS (as of March 2022).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Jeanne Batalova Nicole Ward and Jeanne Batalova

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Want to check a fact about U.S. immigration? Interested in putting recent trends into perspective? This article compiles authoritative, up-to-date information about the U.S. immigrant population and how it has changed over time. Data cover immigrants' demographic, educational, and linguistic characteristics; their top states of residence; enforcement activities; refugees and asylum seekers; naturalization trends; visa backlogs; and more.

# data[].attributes.body
People have moved from their home countries for centuries, for all sorts of reasons. Some are drawn to new places by ‘pull ‘ factors, others find it difficult to remain where they are and migrate because of ‘push’ factors. These have contributed to the recent movement of people here but are also the reason why people from here have emigrated to other countries. Over 80 million people in the world have Irish blood; 36.5 million US residents claimed Irish ancestry in 2007. Historically some were transported or sold into slavery or left because of poverty, hunger, persecution, discrimination, civil war, unemployment and, more recently, simply for education and better jobs. Migrant numbers have risen rapidly in the last decade. In 2013 there were thought to be over 230 million international migrants.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
People have moved from their home countries for centuries, for all sorts of reasons. Some are drawn to new places by ʻpull ʻ factors, others find it difficult to remain where they are and migrate because of ʻpushʼ factors. These have contributed to the recent inward movement of people to here but are also the reason why people from here have emigrated to other countries.

Over 80 million people in the world have Irish blood; 36.5 million US residents claimed Irish ancestry in 2007. Historically some were transported or sold into slavery or left because of poverty, hunger, persecution, discrimination, civil war, unemployment and, more recently, simply for education and better jobs. Worldwide numbers of migrants have risen rapidly in the last decade. The International Organization for Migration estimates that there were around 244 million international migrants in 2015.
Pull Factors
Migrants are drawn to countries such as the UK and Ireland for the following factors:

* Developed countries, or industrialised city areas within countries, draw labour from countries or regions where incomes are lower.

* International transport has never been easier and is cheaper than ever, relative to incomes.

* The telephone and internet make it easier to access information.

* Falling birth rates in developed countries contribute to labour shortages and skills gaps.

* Extra people are required when there is rapid economic expansion.

* People are drawn to stable democracies where human rights and religious freedoms are more likely to be respected.

* Many people in other parts of the world speak English or want to learn English.

* Young people move in order to get better jobs or improve their qualifications, including their language skills.
Push Factors
Negative factors at home add to the reasons why people feel compelled to move.

* Lack of prospects for career advancement

* Poverty and low incomes

* High unemployment rates

* Persecution and poor human rights

* Internal conflict and war

* Climate change, natural disasters and famine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
People have moved from their home countries for centuries, for all sorts of reasons. Some are drawn to new places by ʻpull ʻ factors, others find it difficult to remain where they are and migrate because of ʻpushʼ factors.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people immigrate for work and family.

# data[].attributes.body
I think people mostly immigrate from places with wars.