A new review of 2013 immigration data shows that China replaced Mexico as the top country of origin for immigrants to the United States. The 2013 American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, recorded 1,201,000 immigrants. Of those, 125,000 came from Mexico, 129,000 came from India, and 147,000 came from China. The previous year, Mexican immigration (125,000) just topped Chinese immigration (124,000).
According to Eric Jensen, Statistician/Demographer with the Census Bureau's Population Division, this latest flip followed "a decade where immigration from China and India increased while immigration from Mexico decreased." Jensen reports that in 2000, 41.2 percent of all foreign-born immigrants were Hispanic, but by 2009, that number had fallen to 30.1 percent, while the rate of immigration for non-Hispanic Asian, foreign-born grew to 34.7 percent.
Asian Americans comprise the fastest-growing racial group in the U.S. at 2.9 percent, with the total population just short of 20 million. According to experts, immigration is the primary driver of that growth, "accounting for 61 percent of the total Asian population change" between 2012 and 2013. An estimated 74 percent of Asian adults in 2012 were foreign born. The 54-million strong Hispanic population is growing at 2.1 percent, with the birth rate accounting for 78 percent of that growth.
