Asians To Overtake Hispanics As Largest Immigrant Group By 2065

Asian immigrants are expected to overtake immigrants from Latin America as America’s largest immigrant group in the coming 50 years, according to new projections from the Pew Research Center.

According to Pew’s newest analysis of Census data, the research group projects that Asian immigrants will overtake Hispanics as the largest immigrant group in the next 40 years and make up 38 percent of the immigrant by 2065.

Currently Hispanics dominate America’s immigrant population, making up 47 percent of all immigrants. Asians today comprise 26 percent of the nation’s immigrants. By 2065 the share of Hispanic immigrants will drop to 31 percent. To be sure, Hispanics will still hold a much greater share of America’s overall population.

“The country’s overall population will feel the impact of these shifts,” Pew reports. “Non-Hispanic whites are projected to become less than half of the U.S. population by 2055 and 46% by 2065. No racial or ethnic group will constitute a majority of the U.S. population. Meanwhile, Hispanics will see their population share rise to 24% by 2065 from 18% today, while Asians will see their share rise to 14% by 2065 from 6% today.”

The 50-year projection comes as the U.S marks the 50th anniversary of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which launched many of the demographic shifts by opening America’s doors to millions of immigrants from Latin America and Asia, while prior immigration to the U.S. was largely from Europe.

“This fast-growing immigrant population also has driven the share of the U.S. population that is foreign born from 5% in 1965 to 14% today and will push it to a projected record 18% in 2065. Already, today’s 14% foreign-born share is a near historic record for the U.S., just slightly below the 15% levels seen shortly after the turn of the 20th century,” Pew reports.

In 2015, Pew reveals, the foreign-born population in the U.S. reached 45 million. If current law prevails, Pew projects the foreign-born population to reach 78 million in 2065.