Foreign- Born Share of Population to Reach Historic High by 2060 % of the population that is foreign born
The nation’s foreign-born population is projected to reach 78 million by 2060, making up 18.8% of the total U.S. population, according to new Census Bureau population projections. That would be a new record for the foreign-born share, with the bureau projecting that the previous record high of 14.8% in 1890 will be passed as soon as 2025.
Yet while Asian and Hispanic immigrants are projected to continue to be the main sources of U.S. immigrant population growth, the new projections show that the share of the foreign born is expected to fall among these two groups. Today, 66.0% of U.S. Asians are immigrants, but that share is predicted to fall to 55.4% by 2060. And while about a third of U.S. Hispanics (34.9%) are now foreign-born, the Census Bureau projects that this share too will fall, to 27.4% in 2060. These declines are due to the growing importance of births as drivers of each group’s population growth. Already, for Hispanics, U.S. births drive 78% of population growth.
Meanwhile, foreign-born shares among whites and blacks are expected to rise. Today, 8.9% of those who identify as black were born in another country, but that number is projected to almost double – to 16.5% – by 2060. Among whites, 4.1% are foreign-born today, but that share is projected to double to 8.1% in 2060.
Foreign- Born Share of Population  | to Reach Historic High by 2060  | % of the population that is foreign born  | 25%  | 20  | 15  | projected  | 10  | 2015  | 1850  | 1900  | 1970  | 2060  | Note: 'Foreign. born' are those born outside the United States  | and U.S. tenritories  | Source: U.S. Census Bureau "Historical Census Statistics on  | the Foreign. Born Population of the United States: 1850 2000  | and 2014 population projections  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 