ANCESTRY OF ASIANS IN AMERICA in thousands 21 Mongolia Japan 1,411 Korea 1,822 China 4,948 SOUTH ASIA Nepal Bhutan Hmong* 299 140 24 Pakistan Bangladesh 519 Myanmar (Burma) 168 188 Vietnam 1,980 Laos 271 India Thailand 295 3,982 Cambodia 330 Philippines 3,899 Sri Lanka Malaysia 60 30 113 Indonesia *THE HMONG ARE AN ETHNIC GROUP ORIGINATING IN CHINA AND LIVING IN MULTIPLE SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRIES. ALBERTO LUCAS LÓPEZ, NGM STAFF; SHELLEY SPERRY SOURCES: PEW RESEARCH CENTER; NATIONAL CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING STATISTICS, NSF; U.S. CENSUS BUREAU. NOTES: ALL DATA 2015. SOME GROUPS WERE OMITTED WHEN DATA WERE INCOMPLETE OR NOT AVAILABLE. ANCESTRY OF ASIANS IN AMERICA in thousands Mongolia 21 Japan 1,411 Korea 1,822 China 4,948 SOUTH ASIA Nepal Bhutan 299 Hmong* 140 24 Pakistan Bangladesh 519 Myanmar (Burma) 168 188 Vietnam 1,980 Laos 271 India 295 Thailand 3,982 Philippines Cambodia 330 3,899 Sri Lanka Malaysia 30 60 Indonesia 113 *THE HMONG ARE AN ETHNIC GROUP ORIGINATING IN CHINA AND LIVING IN MULTIPLE SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRIES. ALBERTO LUCAS LÓPEZ, NGM STAFF; SHELLEY SPERRY SOURCES: PEW RESEARCH CENTER; NATIONAL CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING STATISTICS, NSF; U.S. CENSUS BUREAU. NOTES: ALL DATA 2015. SOME GROUPS WERE OMITTED WHEN DATA WERE INCOMPLETE OR NOT AVAILABLE. This graphic—drawn from 2010 and 2015 data—details the countries of origin of Asian-Americans in the U.S.



The number of foreign-born residents in the United States is now the highest it has been since 1910, according to recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Compared to past decades, the country’s newest immigrants are most likely to come from Asia.

William H. Frey from the Brookings Institute analyzed the census data, which covers 2010-2017, and found that 41 percent of immigrants during those years arrived from Asia, while 39 percent came from Latin America, reports the New York Times. Though foreign-born U.S. residents as a whole are primarily Latin American—50 percent of the population, as opposed to the 31 percent who are Asian—recent data may suggest tides are shifting.

A demographer and professor at the University of Michigan’s Population Studies Center, Frey explains the growing demographics of Asian-American communities in the U.S. in his recently published book Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics Are Remaking America. According to 2010 data, Chinese and Indian residents make up the largest and second-largest portions of America’s Asian population, with the greatest numbers of both groups residing in New York City. Los Angeles is home to the country’s largest Filipino, Vietnamese, and Korean communities, who make up the next biggest Asian populations in the nation. With the rise in Asian-Americans across the country, however, Asian-American communities are now flourishing in Atlanta, Austin, and Raleigh.

This expanding Asian immigration also coincides with an increase in highly educated immigrants. Frey found that 45 percent of immigrants who entered the country after 2010 had college degrees, compared to 30 percent of those who arrived between 2000 and 2009.