The Census Bureau has recently released “state level maps showing percent distributions and some detailed socio-economic characteristics from Census 2000 for the foreign-born population in the United States and Puerto Rico for selected countries of birth, such as Mexico, China, the Philippines, India and El Salvador.”

Getting an accurate count of minority and immigrant populations has always posed a challenge for the Census Bureau, but in 2010 the issue may be even more complex, as reported by the AP (see International Herald Tribune article).

Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007 (PDF, from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Reports) uses data from the American Community Survey and the Current Population Survey.

Among the findings:

• A larger proportion of women than men had completed high school or more education. A larger proportion of men had received at least a bachelor’s degree.
• Differences in educational attainment by race and Hispanic origin existed. Attainment for non-Hispanic Whites and Asians was higher than attainment for Blacks and Hispanics. (Hispanics may be any race.)
• Educational attainment varied by nativity. About 88 percent of the native-born population had at least a high school diploma, compared to 68 percent of the foreign-born population. More native-born than foreign-born adults reported completing at least a bachelor’s degree (28 percent and 27 percent, respectively), while more foreign-born than nativeborn adults reported having an advanced degree (11 percent and 10 percent, respectively).
• Educational attainment of foreign-born Hispanics was lower than all other groups. The percentage of foreign-born Hispanics who had completed at least high school was 49 percent, which is the same as the percentage of foreign-born Asians who had completed college or more education.

Hudson, Robert B. (2009). Boomer bust? Economic and political issues of the graying society. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Vinea, Ana. (2007). Creating families across boundaries: A case study of Romanian/Egyptian mixed marriages. American University in Cair Press.

Le Houerou, Fabienne.  (2006). Forced migrants and host societies in Egypt and Sudan. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.

Becher, H., (2008). Family practices in South Asian Muslim families: Parenting in a multi-faith Britain. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Papadopoulou-Kourkoula, A. (2008). Transit migration: The missing link between emigration and settlement. Migration, minorities, and citizenship. Basingstoke [England]: Palgrave Macmillan.

Brynin, M., & Ermisch, J. (2009). Changing relationships. New York: Routledge.

With fewer jobs and more aggressive enforcement, illegal immigration to the US is decreasing, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

The Population Reference Bureau and the Migration Policy Institute brought together four experts to talk about immigration data sources on Oct. 16. Webcasts and a report are available on the PRB web site.

The National Science Foundation has posted a video interview with Dr. Joel E. Cohen describing mathematical models he has developed to predict human migration patterns.

A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center says that the inflow of illegal immigration to the US has slowed, dropping below the rate of legal immigration. While the report does not try to identify reasons for the decline, some researchers, including William Frey of the Brookings Institution, point to the country’s economic downturn (Associated Press).

Citation: Passel, J. & Cohn, D. (2008). Trends in Unauthorized Immigration: Undocumented Inflow Now Trails Legal Inflow. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.

The population of the US will rise to 438 million in 2050, and the majority of the increase will be due to immigrants and their descendants, according to new projections developed by the Pew Research Center. The projections are published in a report, U.S. Population Projections: 2005-2050.

The Department of Homeland Security has released a report estimating the legal permanent resident (”green card” holders) population in the US (PDF).