Immigrant families will account for 88 percent of U.S. population growth in the coming decades, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.
“If current demographic trends continue, future immigrants and their descendants will be an even bigger source of population growth,” said the newly-released report. “Between 2015 and 2065, they are projected to account for 88 percent of the U.S. population increase, or 103 million people, as the nation grows to 441 million.”
The new analysis reviewed Census data to project population trends, beginning in 1965, the last time immigration laws were changed in a big way. The Immigration and Nationality Act marks its 50th anniversary this weekend.
What it found is that between 1965 and 2015, 55 percent of U.S. population growth came from immigrants and their families.
The 1965 law junked a quota system that favored European nations, said Pew, opening the door to those from Latin and South America.
“The composition of immigrants changed again in the post-1965 immigration era. By the 1980s, Mexicans became the nation’s largest immigrant group; by 2013, they were the largest immigrant group in 33 states,” said Pew’s report.
The huge and revealing report can be seen here.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
