{"id": 1293110, "name": "Share of the United States population born in another country, by place of birth", "unit": "%", "createdAt": "2026-07-23T08:49:24.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-07-23T09:27:20.000Z", "coverage": "", "timespan": "1850-2024", "datasetId": 8075, "shortUnit": "%", "columnOrder": 0, "shortName": "share_of_population", "catalogPath": "grapher/migration/2026-07-22/us_foreign_born_population/share_by_origin_group#share_of_population", "descriptionProcessing": "We calculated these shares by dividing the foreign-born population of each group of origin by the total resident population reported by the same census or survey. \"Rest of America\" is the Americas minus Mexico and Canada. People born in the European part of Turkey are counted in Asia, and everyone born in the former Soviet Union is counted in Europe.", "type": "float", "grapherConfigIdETL": "019f8e2a-4d23-773f-b731-715bb4ff62e8", "dataChecksum": "16560257495701685015", "metadataChecksum": "-1046461031748621288", "datasetName": "Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850 to 2000", "updatePeriodDays": 365, "datasetVersion": "2026-07-22", "nonRedistributable": false, "display": {"unit": "%", "shortUnit": "%", "numDecimalPlaces": 1}, "schemaVersion": 2, "processingLevel": "major", "presentation": {"attribution": "US Census Bureau (2006, 2025)", "topicTagsLinks": ["Migration"]}, "descriptionKey": "The foreign-born population covers everyone living in the United States who was not a US citizen at birth, whatever their current legal status. People born in the United States, in its territories such as Puerto Rico, or abroad to American parents count as native-born.\n\nThe data comes from two sources with the same definition of foreign-born:\n- **1850\u20132000:** the decennial census. Figures up to 1940 come from a full count of the population; figures from 1950 to 2000 are based on large census samples (between 1 in 4 and 1 in 6 people).\n- **2005 onward:** the American Community Survey, an annual survey of about 3.5 million households. Survey estimates are less exact than a census count.\n\nThere is no data for 1940 and 1950, because the census publications of those years only gave the country of birth of the white population, and no data for 2020, because no survey estimates were released for that year.\n\nTwo things changed over the course of the series:\n- The population included: Alaska and Hawaii are included from 1960 onward. The 1890 figures exclude about 325,000 people living in the Indian Territory and on Indian reservations, who were not asked about their place of birth.\n- The list of US territories: people born in a territory count as native-born, so when a territory's status changed, so did their classification. For example, people born in the Philippines counted as native-born until it became independent in 1946, and as foreign-born after.\n\n\"Rest of America\" covers everyone born in the Americas outside Mexico and Canada. \"Not specified\" covers people whose country of birth was not recorded, and people born at sea.\n\nPeople living in the country without authorization are included in the definition, but censuses and surveys are known to miss part of this group. Other sources that try to adjust for this can find a slightly higher foreign-born population.", "dimensions": {"years": {"values": [{"id": 1850}, {"id": 1860}, {"id": 1870}, {"id": 1880}, {"id": 1890}, {"id": 1900}, {"id": 1910}, {"id": 1920}, {"id": 1930}, {"id": 1960}, {"id": 1970}, {"id": 1980}, {"id": 1990}, {"id": 2000}, {"id": 2005}, {"id": 2006}, {"id": 2007}, {"id": 2008}, {"id": 2009}, {"id": 2010}, {"id": 2011}, {"id": 2012}, {"id": 2013}, {"id": 2014}, {"id": 2015}, {"id": 2016}, {"id": 2017}, {"id": 2018}, {"id": 2019}, {"id": 2021}, {"id": 2022}, {"id": 2023}, {"id": 2024}]}, "entities": {"values": [{"id": 273, "name": "Africa", "code": "OWID_AFR"}, {"id": 275, "name": "Asia", "code": "OWID_ASI"}, {"id": 44, "name": "Canada", "code": "CAN"}, {"id": 276, "name": "Europe", "code": "OWID_EUR"}, {"id": 113, "name": "Mexico", "code": "MEX"}, {"id": 368114, "name": "Not specified", "code": null}, {"id": 277, "name": "Oceania", "code": "OWID_OCE"}, {"id": 372777, "name": "Rest of America", "code": null}]}}, "origins": [{"id": 18862, "titleSnapshot": "Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States - Table 4", "title": "Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850 to 2000", "descriptionSnapshot": "Table 4 of the report, which gives the foreign-born population of the United States by world region and country of birth, at each census from 1850 to 1930 and from 1960 to 2000. There is no data for 1940 and 1950, because the census publications of those years only gave the country of birth of the white population.\n\nNotes from the source: prior to 1980, people born in Taiwan are counted with China. Data for the former Soviet Union include its Asian part. In 2000, data for Portugal include the Madeira Islands, and the country of birth was imputed when it was not reported.", "description": "A report by the US Census Bureau that brings together statistics on the foreign-born population of the United States from every census between 1850 and 2000. Its tables cover nativity, citizenship, place of birth, language, age and sex, race and Hispanic origin, length of residence, and place of residence.", "producer": "US Census Bureau", "citationFull": "Gibson, Campbell and Kay Jung. 2006. Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850 to 2000. Population Division Working Paper No. 81. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.", "urlMain": "https://www.census.gov/library/working-papers/2006/demo/POP-twps0081.html", "urlDownload": "https://www2.census.gov/library/working-papers/2006/demo/pop-twps0081/tab04.xls", "dateAccessed": "2026-07-22", "datePublished": "2006-02-02", "license": {"name": "Public domain"}}]}