New flows of immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean are a growing component of the U.S. population. They are part of the racial and ethnic transformation of the United States in the 21st century. Although far outnumbered by nonblack Hispanic and Asian immigrants, the number of black immigrants more than tripled between 1980 and 2005. More than one-fourth of the black population in New York, Boston, and Miami is foreign-born. Immigration contributed at least one-fifth of the growth in the U.S. black population between 2001 and 2006.

Economic and political forces brought these immigrants to the United States from Africa, the Caribbean, and some Latin American countries. They come to the United States seeking educational opportunities, jobs, and sometimes individual safety. U.S. immigration laws enacted over the last few decades have opened new avenues for black immigrants, especially from Africa. U.S. laws favoring immigrant family reunification have played a particularly important role in immigration from nearby Caribbean countries. For this group, the journey to the United States has become so common that succeeding generations are likely to join their relatives already here.

The growing number and size of black immigrant communities with their distinctive dress, language, music, and food—are raising their visibility. There is increasing recognition that these groups have produced some of America’s most respected leaders, most recently former Secretary of State Colin Powell—son of Jamaican immigrants— and Illinois Senator Barack Obama—whose father was Kenyan. Black immigrants have more education and have higher incomes than foreign-born Americans in general, or than U.S.-born African Americans. They are less likely to be in poverty or unemployed. But many are overqualified and underpaid for the jobs they have.

These new immigrants bring a diversity of skills and experiences, along with rich cultures and traditions. They are immigrants and they are black—two distinctive social groups in the United States—which influences their adaptation into the social and economic fabric of their new country. Many immigrants consciously maintain the dress, language, and other aspects of their homelands to affirm their “otherness.” African and Caribbean immigrants often live in neighborhoods separated from each other, from U.S.-born blacks, and from white Americans. But many immigrants, and especially their children and grandchildren, embrace elements of U.S. culture. Through this interaction, both the immigrants and U.S.-born population are affected.

• The number of foreign-born blacks more than tripled between 1980 and 2005.
• About two-thirds of foreign-born blacks are from the Caribbean and Latin America.
• Forty percent of African-born blacks arrived betwe en 2000 and 2005.

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by Mary Mederios Kent
Population Bulletins, Vol. 62, No. 4, December 2007.

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PRB's Population Bulletins explore current domestic and international population issues and trends. Written for a general audience by noted experts, they present population topics in clear and objective text with colorful graphics. Bulletins are widely used in university classes and by the media.

About the Author

Mary Mederios Kent is the editor of the Population Bulletin series. She is an editor and demographer and has written and edited numerous publications on population and health-related issues. She holds a master’s degree in demography from Georgetown University.

The author acknowledges the contributions of Dia Adams and Mark Mather of the Population Reference Bureau; and of Jill Wilson of the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Project, who wrote the box on African immigrants in the Washington, D.C., area. The author is indebted to reviewers Marlene Lee, Yoku Shaw-Taylor, and Baffour K. Takyi. The Fred H. Bixby Foundation supported the research for this publication. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the David & Lucile Packard Foundation provided additional support for this publication.

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