The report said one-third of the foreign-born population was from Mexico or another Central American country and about one-fourth, from Asia.

Other highlights from the report include:

• More than 6 in 10 of the foreign-born population live in the West and Northeast U.S., compared with less than 4 in 10 natives.
  
  
• Just over one-half, 51 percent of the foreign-born population in 2000 reported Latin American regions of Central and South America, and the Caribbean as their place of birth. Asians represented 25.5 percent, while 15.3 percent reported European countries as their place of birth.
  
  
• Almost half of the foreign-born population lived in the central city of a metropolitan area (45 percent) compared with slightly more than one-quarter of the native population (28 percent). Only 5 percent of the foreign-born population lived outside metro areas, compared with 21 percent of natives.
  
  
• While foreign-born residents age 25 and over were as likely as natives to be college graduates (26 percent each), they lagged at lower educational levels. Sixty-seven percent of the foreign-born population finished high school compared to 87 percent of natives.
  
  
• Thirty-six percent of full-time, year-round workers born outside the United States earned less than $20,000 in 1999; this compares with 21 percent of their native counterparts who were at that level.
  
  
• In March 2000, 4.9 percent of the foreign born in the civilian labor force were unemployed compared with 4.3 percent of natives. Unemployment rates were similar between foreign-born men (4.5 percent) and native men (4.4 percent).
  
  
• In 1999, 16.8 percent of foreign-born residents were living below the poverty level, compared with 11.2 percent of natives. 
  
  
• Thirty-seven percent of the nation's foreign-born residents were naturalized citizens. Less than 1 in 10 of the foreign-born people who entered the United States in the 1990s had become citizens, compared with 8 in 10 who arrived before 1970.

The full report contains data on characteristics of the foreign-born population such as region of birth, geographic distribution in the United States, age, citizenship, household size, marital status, educational level, employment status, occupation, earnings and poverty status. Comparisons are made between the foreign-born and the native populations, as well as among the foreign-born population by region of birth, citizenship and year of entry into the United States.

The complete report, The Foreign-Born Population in the United States: March 2000, can be viewed or downloaded from the Census Bureau Web site at: http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/foreign.html 

To view the report, you need the free Adobe, Inc. .PDF file reader. Read about and get it here.

Foreign-Born Population and Percent of Total Population
for the United States: 1890 to 2000
                                

        Year            Number                 Percent
                         (in millions)             of total
                            
        2000                  28.4                  10.4
        1990                  19.8                   7.9
        1970                   9.6                   4.7
        1950                  10.3                   6.9
        1930                  14.2                  11.6
        1910                  13.5                  14.7
        1890                   9.2                  14.8
                                
 Source: U.S. Census Bureau