The percent of foreign-born US residents last year grew to its highest level in more than a century, according to figures released Thursday from the most comprehensive survey of American life. The share of people born outside the United States increased in 2023 to 14.3% from 13.9% in 2022, according to estimates from the US Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey.
- International migrants have become a primary driver of population growth this decade, increasing their share of the overall population as fewer children are born in the US, the AP reports. The foreign-born population rate hasn't been this high since 1910, when it was 14.7%, driven by waves of people in search of a better life in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It peaked at 14.8% in 1890 and fell to a record low of 4.7% in 1970, per the Pew Research Center.