Foreign-Born Population and Foreign Born as Percentage of the Total US Population, 1850 to 2008
Note: The term "foreign born" refers to people residing in the United States who were not US citizens at birth. The foreign-born population includes naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents (LPRs), certain legal nonimmigrants (e.g., persons on student or work visas), those admitted under refugee or asylee status, and persons illegally residing in the United States.
Source: The 2008 data are from the 2008 American Community Survey, the 2000 data are from Census 2000 (see www.census.gov). All other data are from Gibson, Campbell and Emily Lennon, US Census Bureau, Working Paper No. 29, Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850 to 1990, US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1999.