by Kitty Testa
The United States takes in more immigrants than any other nation on earth. The U.S. is only about 4% of the world’s population, but we take in 20% of the world’s immigrant population. There are about 42.4 million immigrants in the United States, about 13% of the population. Whether you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing, here are five interesting facts about immigrants you should know.
1. Most Immigrants have been in the U.S. for more than 15 years
While this election season might have given you a vision of hordes of Mexicans flooding over the border, the truth is that 59% of immigrants arrived in the U.S. before the year 2000. 40% of that group, about 20 million people, are naturalized citizens of the United States.
2. Unauthorized immigrants make up only 3.5% of the population
There are about 11 million people residing in the U.S. that, by our laws, are unauthorized to do so. As much as Gary Johnson doesn’t like the term illegal immigrant, it is technically correct. And 11 million people is a lot—but in a country of 319 million, it’s a very small portion of the population. About 5.8 million of unauthorized immigrants are from Mexico, making them less than 2% of the population.
3. Very few immigrants are refugees and asylum seekers
Between 2013 and 2015, the U.S. accepted just under 70,000 refugees each year. 57% of them came from Burma (Myanmar), Iraq and Somalia. Asylum seekers are an even smaller group, at only about 25,000 per year, including about 8,000 Chinese.
4. A higher percentage of the U.S. population was foreign born 100 years ago
Although immigration has been rising steadily since 1970, as a percentage of the population, it is lower than it was in the years leading up to 1920. Americans at that time also were worried about immigration, especially since a lot of the immigrants were coming from eastern and southern Europe. They worried about language barriers, unemployment and strain on the country. The new immigrants were seen as inferior by native born Americans, but that all seemed to work out ultimately.
5. Immigrants are the most entrepreneurial group in America
21% of Inc. 500 CEOs were born outside of the U.S.—not bad for being only 13% of the population. Immigrants start businesses at 2 times the rate of native-born Americans. These businesses generate an estimated $775 billion in annual sales and pay an estimated $126 billion in wages to American workers.
The public conversation about immigration can get hysterical at times, but calm down, treat yourself to some Sweetfrog yogurt or nachos from a taco truck Immigration has been great for America, and if we hadn’t had a whole lot of it over the past 150 years, most of us wouldn’t be here to worry about it.