The foreign-born population of the United States is expected to rise to 78 million by the year 2060, accounting for 18% of the country’s populace, new population projections from the Census Bureau suggest. The previous record of 14.8%, achieved back in 1890, is expected to be broken by as early as 2025. The main sources of immigration population growth in the United States are expected to continue to be from Hispanic and Asian immigrants; however, the percentage of those born overseas is projected to decline in these groups, according to the new projections. This is due to the increasing importance of births in driving the population growth of each demographic.
The United States already has more immigrants than any other nation, with second-generation Americans making up 11.5% of the population in 2012. Projections from the Pew Research Center suggest that this figure will increase to as high as 18.4% by the middle of this century.
The new report is the first time in half a century that projections regarding the foreign-born population of the United States have been made by the Census Bureau. It can be very tricky to predict future trends when it comes to births and immigration and the bureau has altered its projections considerably from one year to the next as the result of lower birth rates and a reduced rate of immigration.