Spotlight on the United States

The United States is often described as “a nation of immigrants,” a phrase coined by John F. Kennedy in an essay written in 1958 when he was the junior senator from Massachusetts.⁸ As the future president wrote, “This was the secret of America: a nation of people with the fresh memory of old traditions who dared to explore new frontiers, people eager to build lives for themselves in a spacious society that did not restrict their freedom of choice and action.”⁹ 

Poverty, famine, war and other hardships drove millions of immigrants to the U.S. in the 19th and early 20th centuries, primarily from Europe. Since the 1960s, when Kennedy’s essay was posthumously published as a book, America’s immigrant population has continued to grow and diversify. In the past 50 years, millions of immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean have made their way to the U.S., along with significant numbers from East Asia (including China, Korea and Vietnam), India and sub-Saharan Africa. Today, the United States is home to immigrants from virtually every country in the world.¹⁰ 

As of 2010, there were nearly 43 million foreign-born residents in the U.S. – more than three times as many as in Russia (12 million), the second-leading destination.¹¹ One of every five international migrants alive today resides in the United States.

Mexico has been by far the largest country of origin for U.S. immigrants. In fact, the U.S. has received about as many immigrants from Mexico alone (more than 12 million, including both legal immigrants and unauthorized ones) as any other nation has received from all sources combined.¹² Among the other leading countries of origin for U.S. immigrants have been the Philippines (1.8 million), India (1.7 million), China (1.4 million) and Germany (1.2 million). (For more details on migration to and from the United States, see the interactive graphics.)

While the United States has taken in more immigrants than any other country, the share of the U.S. population that is foreign-born (13%) is about average for Western industrial democracies. Indeed, among the 159 countries with populations of 1 million or more, the United States ranks 26th in the percentage of residents who were born abroad. By comparison, first-generation (foreign-born) immigrants make up more than 20% of the population in Australia (ranks 12th) and Canada (ranks 13th), two other countries that historically have attracted a large number of immigrants.¹³ 

Immigrant Religious Distribution in the United States  

With its huge population of immigrants, the United States has been the leading destination for many, though not all, religious groups. The U.S. is the world’s No. 1 destination for Christian migrants, who make up an estimated 32 million (74%) of the 43 million foreign-born people living in the United States. The U.S. is also the top destination for Buddhist migrants (including many from Vietnam) and for people with no particular religion (including many from China). The U.S. is the world’s second-leading destination for Hindu migrants, after India, and for Jewish migrants, after Israel. Among Muslim migrants, however, the U.S. ranks just seventh as a destination – behind Saudi Arabia, Russia, Germany, France, Jordan and Pakistan. About 5% of U.S. immigrants are Muslims, a much lower share than in Europe, where Muslims represent about 25% or more of the immigrants living in many countries, including France, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany. (See Spotlight on Europe.)

Footnotes:  

8 See Jason DeParle, “Favoring Immigration if Not the Immigrant,” The New York Times, May 8, 2011. (return to text) 

9 John F. Kennedy, A Nation of Immigrants, Anti-Defamation League, 1958. Kennedy was working on a revision of the publication when he was assassinated in 1963. It was published posthumously in 1964 by HarperCollins. A 50th anniversary edition was published in January 2008. (return to text) 

10 For more information on the history of U.S. immigration, see Aristide R. Zolberg, A Nation by Design, Russell Sage Foundation, 2006. (return to text) 

11 As previously noted, the U.N. Population Division estimate of 42.8 million immigrants in the U.S. includes about 3 million people born in U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico and Guam, as well as people born overseas to American citizens. (return to text) 

12 The estimate for Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. is taken from a recent Pew Hispanic Center report based on the March 2010 Current Population Survey (PDF) (see page 8). The CPS’ estimate of nearly 12.4 million Mexican immigrants has been adjusted by the Pew Hispanic Center to take into a account the likely undercounting of unauthorized immigrants. (return to text) 

13 Other countries that have a higher percentage of immigrants than the U.S. include some Gulf Cooperation Council countries (such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait); countries with a high number of refugees (such as Jordan and Lebanon); and some European countries (such as Switzerland and Spain). See the United Nations 2009 International Migration figures. (return to text)