Demographics in the United States, Trends and Developments

Trends in Immigration to the United States

Immigration has a long history in the United States, and has been the single most important factor driving U.S. population growth in recent decades. Since 2000, about 35% of U.S. population growth has been directly due to immigration, while more than 60% has been due to natural increase (the excess of births over deaths). However, if the children born to immigrants after they enter the United States are factored in, then immigration plays a much larger role in U.S. population growth. Most immigrants coming to the United States are young adults, so immigrants create population momentum by boosting the number of young families with children relative to older adults.

Today, the proportion of the U.S. population that is foreign-born (12%) is lower than the proportion of foreign-born residents more than 100 years ago in 1900 (14%). However, the characteristics of recent immigrants are very different when compared with those who arrived at the turn of the 20th century. During the early 1900s, most immigrants were White Europeans. Congress barred entry of Chinese immigrants and other groups that were thought to pose a threat to the U.S. economy or culture. Starting in the 1920s, immigration levels were restricted further, particularly for those coming from Southern and Eastern Europe. The National Origins Quota Acts that were passed during the early 1920s set strict limits on the number of immigrants entering the United States. Immigration levels dropped sharply as a result of these measures, and remained low for several decades.

In 1965 Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act, which opened the doors to immigrants from all regions of the world. The 1965 amendments represented a major change in immigration policy. They removed per-country quotas and gave priority to families who had relatives living in the United States, opening the borders to new waves of immigrants, especially from Latin America and Asia.

In addition, 1965 marked the end of the postwar baby boom. The U.S. baby boom was a period of markedly higher fertility rates that lasted more than 2 decades, from 1946 to 1964. During this period, there were 76 million births—mostly to non-Hispanic Whites—and fertility increased to a lifetime average of more than three children per woman. The American fertility boom ended in 1965 when the fertility rate dropped below three births per woman for the first time since the mid-1940s. By the early 1970s the fertility rate had dropped below two births per woman—the lowest level ever recorded in the United States. In combination, these two trends—rising immigration from Latin America and fewer non-Hispanic White births—put the United States on a new demographic path characterized by a rapid increase in Latina/o/s relative to U.S.-born Whites.

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