What we know about unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S.
The unauthorized immigrant population in the United States reached 10.5 million in 2021. That was a modest increase over 2019 but nearly identical to 2017.
The unauthorized immigrant population in the United States reached 10.5 million in 2021. That was a modest increase over 2019 but nearly identical to 2017.
In 2021, there were 2.6 million foreign-born Hispanics who had been in the U.S. for five years or less. This is down from 3.8 million in 2000.
The U.S. population grew by 24.5 million from 2010 to 2022, and Hispanics accounted for 53% of this increase.
Around three-quarters of Asian Americans (78%) have a favorable view of the United States. Majorities of Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and Vietnamese adults in the U.S. have a favorable view of their own ancestral homeland. By contrast, fewer than half of Chinese Americans say they have a favorable opinion of China.
Among Asian Adults living in the U.S., 52% say they most often describe themselves using ethnic labels that reflect their heritage and family roots, either alone or together with "American." About six-in-ten (59%) say that what happens to Asians in the U.S. affects their own lives.
The number of international migrants grew to 281 million in 2020; 3.6% of the world’s people lived outside their country of birth that year.
In this companion documentary, Asian American participants described navigating their own identity. These participants were not part of our focus group study but were similarly sampled to tell their own stories.
The stories shared by participants in our video documentary reflect opinions, experiences and perspectives similar to those we heard in the focus groups. Watch extended interviews that were not included in our documentary but present thematically relevant stories.
Use this quote sorter to read how focus group participants answered the question, “What does it mean to be you in America?”
In a new analysis based on dozens of focus groups, Asian American participants described the challenges of navigating their own identity in a nation where the label “Asian” brings expectations about their origins, behavior and physical self.