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USA/Africa: New Data on African Immigrants
AfricaFocus Bulletin
Aug 18, 2011 (110818)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
"From 1980 to 2009, the African-born population in United
States grew from just under 200,000 to almost 1.5 million.
Today, Africans make up a small (3.9 percent) but growing
share of the country's 38.5 million immigrants. ... Over
one-third of all African immigrants resided in New York,
California, Texas, and Maryland." - Migration Information
Source
A new report from the Migration Policy Institute's
Migration Information Source, highlights from which are
excerpted in this AfricaFocus Bulletin, summarizes the most
recent statistical data available on African immigrants in
the United States. The full report, with tables, sources,
and much additional data is available at
http://www.migrationinformation.org / direct URL:
http://tinyurl.com/3b56mxe
Another AfricaFocus Bulletin, released today and available
on the web at http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/mig1108b.php, contains
excerpts from a report from the Economic Policy Institute
on wages of black immigrants, noting their relative wage
disadvantage with respect to U.S.-born blacks as well as
U.S.-born non-Hispanic whites, within groups with similar
educational and other demographic characteristics.
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on migration issues, see
http://www.africafocus.org/migrexp.php
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++
African Immigrants in the United States
By Kristen McCabe
Migration Policy Institute
July 21, 2011
Migration Information Source
http://www.migrationinformation.org / direct URL:
http://tinyurl.com/3b56mxe
While the trans-Atlantic slave trade brought large numbers
of Africans to the United States as forced migrants from
the 16th to the 19th centuries, significant voluntary
migration from Africa to the United States did not begin in
earnest until the 1980s. From 1980 to 2009, the Africanborn
population in United States grew from just under
200,000 to almost 1.5 million. Today, Africans make up a
small (3.9 percent) but growing share of the country's 38.5
million immigrants.
In 2009, almost two-thirds of African immigrants were from
Eastern and Western Africa, but no individually reported
country accounted for more than 14.1 percent of the foreign
born from the Africa region. The top countries of origin
for the African born were Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana,
and Kenya.
Classes of admission for African immigrants who gained
lawful permanent residence in 2010 were also diverse, with
48 percent having done so through family relationships, 24
percent through the diversity visa program, 22 percent as
refugees and asylees, 5 percent through employment, and the
rest through other means.
Compared to the foreign born overall, African immigrants
reported higher levels of English proficiency and
educational attainment in 2009, and were more likely to be
of working age and to participate in the labor force. Yet
African immigrants were also more likely to be recent
arrivals to the United States and to live in households
with an annual income below the poverty line. Overall,
striking differences are evident across African origin
countries, with some refugee-origin countries appearing as
outliers in certain measures of immigrant integration.
This Spotlight focuses on African immigrants residing in
the United States, and examines the population's size,
geographic distribution, admission categories, legal
status, and demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.
The data used are the most recent detailed data available
and come from the US Census Bureau's 2009 American
Community Survey (ACS), the 2000 Decennial Census (as well
as earlier censuses), and the Department of Homeland
Security's Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS).
Definitions
The US Census Bureau defines the foreign born as
individuals who had no US citizenship at birth. The
foreign-born population includes naturalized citizens,
lawful permanent residents, refugees, asylees, legal
nonimmigrants (including those on student, work, or certain
other types of temporary visas), and persons residing in
the country without authorization.
The terms "foreign born" and "immigrant" are used
interchangeably.
Size and Geographic Distribution
- In 2009, about 1.5 million African immigrants resided in
the United States.
- African immigrants made up 3.9 percent of all immigrants
in 2009.
- Nearly two-thirds of African immigrants were from Eastern
or Western Africa in 2009.
- The top countries of origin for African immigrants were
Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana, and Kenya.
- Over one-third of all African immigrants resided in New
York, California, Texas, and Maryland.
- Almost one-quarter of the African-born population lived
in the metropolitan areas of New York-Northern New JerseyLong
Island, NY-NJ-PA and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria,
DC-VA-MD-WV.
- About one in five immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. PaulBloomington,
MN-WI metropolitan area was born in Africa.
- There were 3.5 million self-identified members of the
African diaspora residing in the United States in 2009.
...
Demographic and Socioeconomic Overview
- Almost half of the African foreign born in the United
States have arrived since 2000.
- The foreign born from Africa were less likely to be age
65 or older than the native born and the foreign born
overall.
- African immigrant men outnumbered women in 2009.
- More than seven out of ten African immigrants spoke only
English or spoke English "very well."
- Nearly three-quarters of African immigrants reported
their race as "Black."
- African-born adults were more likely than the native born
to have bachelor's degree or higher level of education.
- African immigrants of both genders were more likely to
participate in the civilian labor force than were foreignborn
men and women overall.
- More than 30 percent of employed African-born men worked
in service occupations and in construction, extraction, and
transportation.
- The African born were more likely to live in poverty in
2009 than were the native born and the foreign born
overall.
- Roughly 714,000 children resided with least one Africanborn
parent in 2009.
Size and Geographic Distribution
In 2009, about 1.5 million African immigrants resided in
the United States.
The number of African immigrants in the United States has
increased more than 40-fold over the past 50 years, growing
from 35,355 in 1960 to almost 1.5 million in 2009.
This growth has been driven in large part by increasing
numbers of immigrants from Eastern Africa and Western
Africa, who made up almost two-thirds of the entire African
immigrant population. Although pre-1980 estimates of these
two populations are not available, the numeric growth of
the Western African (which grew by 492,030) and Eastern
African (397,262) immigrant populations from 1980 to 2009
each outweighed that of African populations from any other
individually reported region.
African immigrants made up 3.9 percent of all immigrants in
2009.
The foreign born from Africa accounted for 3.9 percent of
the country's 38.5 million immigrants in 2009.
Although African immigrants account for a relatively small
percent of the total foreign born, the share of Africanborn
immigrants has increased consistently over the past 50
years. Though African immigrants represented only 0.4
percent of all foreign born in 1960, this share grew to 1.4
percent in 1980, to 1.8 percent in 1990, and to 2.8 percent
in 2000 (see Table 1).
...
Nearly two-thirds of African immigrants were from Eastern
or Western Africa in 2009.
In 2009, about two-thirds (64.7 percent, or 965,330) of
African immigrants in the United States were born in
Western Africa or Eastern Africa.
Western Africa was the leading region of birth for African
immigrants with 542,032 individuals (or 36.3 percent of all
African immigrants), followed by Eastern Africa (28.4
percent; 423,298), Northern Africa (17.7 percent; 264,536),
Southern Africa (5.7 percent; 85,145), and Middle Africa
(4.4 percent; 65,457). For the remaining African immigrants
(7.5 percent; 112,317), information on the region of birth
was not available.
The shares of African immigrants born in Western, Eastern,
and Middle Africa have increased substantially since 1980,
the first year data is available for these regions.
Conversely, the share of the African born from Northern
Africa has decreased each decade since 1960, and the share
from Southern Africa has decreased each decade since 1990
(see Table 2).
The top countries of origin for African immigrants were
Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana, and Kenya.
In 2009, the top five countries of origin for the 1.5
million African immigrants in the United States were
Nigeria (209,908, or 14.1 percent of all African
immigrants), Ethiopia (148,221, or 9.9 percent), Egypt
(138,194, or 9.3 percent), Ghana (108,647, or 7.3 percent),
and Kenya (87,267, or 5.8 percent). No individually
reported country accounted for more than 14.1 percent of
the African immigrant population.
Other individually reported countries of birth for African
immigrants included: South Africa (82,339, or 5.5 percent),
Liberia (72,111, or 4.8), Morocco (58,283, or 3.9 percent),
Sudan (35,821, or 2.4 percent), Cape Verde (32,885, or 2.2
percent), Sierra Leone (32,467, or 2.2 percent), Cameroon
(30,726, or 2.1 percent), and Eritrea (23,840, or 1.6
percent).
Over one-third of all African immigrants resided in New
York, California, Texas, and Maryland.
New York had the largest number of African immigrants in
2009 with 168,426 individuals, or 11.3 percent of the total
African-born population, followed by California (143,214,
or 9.6 percent), Texas (124,691, or 8.4 percent), and
Maryland (117,315, or 7.9 percent). The African-born in
these states collectively accounted for 37.1 percent of all
African immigrants.
Other states with African immigrant populations greater
than 60,000 in 2009 included New Jersey (79,420, or 5.3
percent), Massachusetts (76,832, or 5.1 percent), Georgia
(75,692, or 5.1 percent), Virginia (69,941, or 4.7
percent), and Minnesota (63,982, or 4.3 percent).
...
There were 3.5 million self-identified members of the
African diaspora residing in the United States in 2009.
Of the 3.5 million self-identified members of the African
diaspora residing in the United States in 2009, 53.7
percent were US citizens at birth (either born in the
United States or born abroad to at least one US-born
parent) and 46.3 percent were foreign born.
While the vast majority (92.2 percent) of foreign-born
members of the African diaspora were born in Africa, 3.8
percent reported a birthplace in the Caribbean and 1.5
percent reported a birthplace in Europe.
Note: There is no universally recognized definition of the
term "diaspora." Most often, the term includes individuals
who self-identify as having ancestral ties to a specific
country of origin. To calculate the size of the African
diaspora in the United States, we included all immigrants
born in Africa (excluding individuals born in the Africa to
at least one US-born parent) and all individuals who
selected a US Census-designated African country, "African,"
"West African," or "Other Subsaharan Africa" (either alone
or in combination with another option) as a response to the
two ACS questions on ancestry.
Modes of Entry and Legal Status
From 2001 to 2010, African nationals accounted for 28.4
percent of refugee arrivals and 21.2 percent of persons
granted asylum.
African nationals arriving in the United States as refugees
between 2001 and 2010 accounted for 28.4 percent (149,755)
of total refugee arrivals during this period. Refugee
arrivals from Somalia alone during this time accounted for
11.3 percent of all refugee arrivals.
Between 2001 to 2010, the leading origin countries of
African refugee arrivals were Somalia (59,840, or 40.0
percent of total African refugee arrivals), Liberia
(23,948, or 16.0 percent), Sudan (18,869, or 12.6 percent),
Ethiopia (11,400, or 7.6 percent), Burundi (9,869, or 6.6
percent), the Democratic Republic of Congo (7,900, or 5.3
percent), Eritrea 6,493, or 4.3 percent), and Sierra Leone
(6,280, or 4.2 percent).
During the same period, African nationals accounted for
21.2 percent (58,232) of the 274,848 total individuals
granted asylum. The leading countries of origin for African
nationals granted asylum were Ethiopia (17.1 percent of
total African asylum grants), Cameroon (10.5 percent), and
Egypt (8.5 percent).
...
Nearly half of all immigrants who received green cards
through the diversity visa lottery program in 2010 were
born in Africa.
Established by the Immigration Act of 1990, the US
Diversity Immigrant Visa program offers certain persons
from countries with low rates of immigration to the United
States the opportunity enter a "green card lottery"
administered by the US Department of State. The African
born accounted for 48.0 percent (or 23,903) of the 49,763
persons who obtained legal permanent residence through the
program in 2010.
Although diversity immigrants make up only a small share of
persons granted LPR status each year (4.8 percent in 2010),
diversity immigrants from five African countries â Ethiopia
(3,987), Egypt (3,447), Nigeria (2,937), Kenya (2,279), and
Ghana (2,086) â collectively accounted for 14.5 percent of
all Africans who obtained legal permanent residence in
2010.
...
Demographic and Socioeconomic Overview
Almost half of the African foreign born in the United
States have arrived since 2000.
As of 2009, 47.7 percent of the 1.5 million African
immigrants in the United States entered the country in 2000
or later, and 28.8 percent entered between 1990 and 1999.
Thus, more than three-quarters of the African born arrived
in the United States in the last two decades. In terms of
earlier arrivals, 13.7 percent of African-born immigrants
came to the United States between 1980 and 1989, 6.5
percent between 1970 and 1979, and just 3.2 percent prior
to 1970.
In fact, African immigrants are significantly more likely
than immigrants overall to be recent arrivals: 31.6 percent
of the 38.5 million foreign born entered the United States
in 2000 or later, 27.9 percent entered between 1990 and
1999, and 19.6 percent entered between 1980 and 1989.
Eleven percent of the overall foreign-born population
entered between 1970 and 1979, and 9.9 percent prior to
1970.
Among the African born, some origin groups are more
established than others. For example, immigrants from Egypt
(23.3 percent), Cape Verde (17.7 percent), South Africa
(15.8 percent), and Algeria (13.4 percent) are more likely
than some other African origin groups to have arrived in
the United States prior to 1980, while immigrants from
Cameroon (71.6 percent), Sudan (60.4 percent), Somalia
(58.3 percent), and Kenya (58.0 percent) are the most
likely among African origin groups to have arrived in the
United States between 2000 and 2009.
...
More than seven out of ten African immigrants spoke only
English or spoke English "very well."
In 2009, 22.4 percent of African immigrants age 5 and older
reported speaking only English, and 48.5 percent reported
speaking English "very well." In contrast, 2.0 percent of
all African immigrants reported not speaking English at
all, 19.8 percent reported speaking English "well," and 7.3
percent reported speaking English, "but not well." Overall,
29.1 percent of African immigrants were Limited English
Proficient (LEP), meaning that they reported speaking
English less than "very well."
The African born were significantly less likely to be LEP
than the foreign-born population overall, 52.0 percent of
which reported limited English proficiency in 2009.
Rates of English proficiency varied substantially by
African country of origin, due in part to the variety of
languages spoken across African countries. Among African
immigrants, those from Cape Verde were most likely to be
LEP (60.9 percent), followed by those from Somalia (56.8
percent), Senegal (52.4 percent), Eritrea (51.5 percent),
Guinea (47.9 percent), and Sudan (46.6 percent). The
highest rates of English proficiency (i.e., speaking only
English or speaking English "very well") for African
immigrants occurred among immigrants from South Africa
(96.9 percent), Zimbabwe (93.6 percent), Liberia (92.0
percent), Nigeria (87.0 percent), Uganda (86.2 percent),
and Sierra Leone (81.6 percent).
Note: The term "limited English proficient" refers to any
person age 5 and older who reported speaking English "not
at all," "not well," or "well" on their survey
questionnaire. Individuals who reported speaking only
English or speaking English "very well" are considered
proficient in English.
Nearly three-quarters of African immigrants reported their
race as "Black."
In 2009, 74.4 percent of the African-born population
reported their race as Black, either alone or in
combination with another race. African immigrants
identified as Black at a much higher rate than the native
born (14.0 percent) and the foreign born overall (8.6
percent), and accounted for 33.3 percent of all foreignborn
Blacks and 2.7 percent the total Black population in
the United States.
...
African-born adults were more likely than the native born
to have bachelor's degree or higher level of education.
In 2009, 41.7 percent of African-born adults age 25 and
older had a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 28.1
percent of native-born adults and 26.8 percent of all
foreign-born adults. Of these, 25 percent of Africans
reported a bachelor's degree as their highest credential,
compared to 17.9 percent of the native born and 15.8
percent of immigrants, and 16.7 percent of Africans
reported having a higher degree than a bachelor's, compared
to 10.2 percent of the native born and 11.0 percent of
immigrants.
Among those who reported not having obtained at least a
high school diploma or equivalent credential, the African
born more closely resembled the native born than the
foreign born overall. In 2009, almost one-third (32.3
percent) of immigrants overall had not obtained this
credential, compared to 11.7 percent of the African born
and 11.4 percent of the native born. The share of African
born who reported their highest educational attainment as a
high school diploma or some college (46.6 percent) was
higher than that of the foreign born overall (40.5
percent), but lower than that of the native born (60.5).
Levels of educational attainment, however, vary widely
among African origin countries. The majority of immigrants
from Uganda (66.5 percent), Egypt (61.1 percent), Algeria
(61.0 percent), Nigeria (60.0 percent), Zimbabwe (57.5
percent), South Africa (55.3 percent), Cameroon (54.6
percent), and Tanzania (51.2 percent) reported a bachelor's
degree or more as their highest educational credential. Yet
more than a third of immigrants from Cape Verde (38.4),
Somalia (37.5 percent), and Guinea (35.0 percent) lacked a
high school diploma.
...
More than 30 percent of employed African-born men worked in
service occupations and in construction, extraction, and
transportation.
Among the 543,123 African-born male workers age 16 and
older employed in the civilian labor force in 2009, 15.9 percent
reported working in construction, extraction, and
transportation and 15.1 percent reported working in
services. Additionally, 12.5 percent reported working in
management, business, and finance professions and 10.7
percent reported working in sales.
...
Among the 369,167 African-born female workers age 16 and
older employed in the civilian labor force, 18.7 percent
reported working in service occupations, 13.9 percent in
healthcare support, 13.1 percent in administrative support
occupations, 9.0 percent in sales, and 9.0 percent in
management, business, and finance roles.
...
The African born were more likely to live in poverty in
2009 than were the native born and the foreign born
overall.
In 2009, a greater share of African immigrants lived in a
household with an annual income below the federal poverty
line (18.5 percent) than the native born (13.6 percent) and
immigrants overall (17.3 percent).
There were substantial differences between origin countries
with respect to the share living in poverty. For example,
immigrants from Nigeria (10.6 percent), Morocco (10.8
percent), Sierra Leone (13.5 percent), and Ghana (14.6
percent) were much less likely than African immigrants
overall to live below the federal poverty line. In
contrast, almost half of all immigrants from Somalia (49.9
percent) live in poverty, and poverty rates for immigrants
from Guinea (42.7 percent) and Sudan (41.2 percent) are
also well above the average for African immigrants overall.
Somalia and Sudan have both accounted for a large number of
refugee admissions over the past decade.
...
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic
publication providing reposted commentary and analysis on
African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and
international policies. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by
William Minter.
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