There were 1.8 million African immigrants living in the US in 2013, up from 881,000 in 2000 and a substantial increase from 1970, when the US was home to only 80,000 foreign-born Africans. GRAPHICS |
What you need to know:
Foreign-born Africans come from all over the continent, but the most common countries of origin for African immigrants are Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana and Kenya. These five countries accounted for nearly half of the foreign-born African population in the US in 2013.
One factor behind this recent wave can be traced to the Refugee Act of 1980, which made it easier for those fleeing conflict-ridden areas, such as Somalia and Ethiopia, to resettle in the US.
African immigrants from the sub-Saharan region are also more likely than immigrants overall to enter the US through the diversity visa programme — an act passed in 1990 to encourage immigration from underrepresented nations.
There were 1.8 million African immigrants living in the US in 2013, up from 881,000 in 2000 and a substantial increase from 1970, when the US was home to only 80,000 foreign-born Africans.
They accounted for 4.4 per cent of the immigrant population in 2013, up from 0.8 per cent in 1970. The growth is evident among recently arrived immigrants.
When compared with other major groups who arrived in the US in the past five years, Africans had the fastest growth rate from 2000 to 2013, increasing by 41 per cent during that period.
Africans are also a rapidly growing segment of the black immigrant population in the US, increasing by 137 per cent from 2000 to 2013.
The transatlantic slave trade beginning in the 16th century brought hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans to the US, but significant voluntary migration from Africa is a relatively new trend.
One factor behind this recent wave can be traced to the Refugee Act of 1980, which made it easier for those fleeing conflict-ridden areas, such as Somalia and Ethiopia, to resettle in the US.
Back then, less than one per cent of all refugee arrivals were from Africa, compared with 32 per cent today, according to figures from the US State Department’s Refugee Processing Center. Statistics from the Yearbook of Immigration Statistics confirm this point.
Among refugee arrivals in 2013, five of the top 10 countries of nationality were in Africa: Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia.
African immigrants from the sub-Saharan region are also more likely than immigrants overall to enter the US through the diversity visa programme — an act passed in 1990 to encourage immigration from underrepresented nations.
Most common countries
This legislation was initially intended to boost the number of Europeans migrating to the US, but many Africans have also benefited from the initiative.
Foreign-born Africans come from all over the continent, but the most common countries of origin for African immigrants are Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana and Kenya. These five countries accounted for nearly half of the foreign-born African population in the US in 2013.
African immigrants are more likely to settle in the South (38 per cent) or the Northeast (27 per cent) than in the West (18 per cent) or Midwest (17 per cent), while the largest numbers of African immigrants are found in New York, California, Texas, Maryland and New Jersey. Each of these states is home to at least 100,000 foreign-born Africans.
In other states, Africans represent a higher percentage of the foreign-born population than the national average. Many African refugees from Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia have settled in South Dakota (Ethiopians are the largest immigrant group overall there).
Africans make up 28 per cent of South Dakota’s foreign-born population. Fuelled by Minnesota’s sizable Somali-born community, 21 per cent of the foreign-born population in that state is African.
Africans account for a sizable portion of the overall immigrant population in several other areas, including Washington, D.C., Maryland and Maine.
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