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Charted: How Latin America Drove U.S. Immigration from 1970–2019

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latam immigration driving U.S. growth

Charted: How LatAm Drove U.S. Immigration from 1970–2019

LatAm, otherwise known as Latin America, has been one of the biggest sources of immigration to the U.S. over the last one hundred years.

Since the 1970s, the region has driven the second wave of U.S. immigration and helped shape the country’s future immeasurably. This is especially clear when looking at Census data listing where people were born.

This chart from Latinometrics looks at the history of U.S. immigration considering both documented and undocumented immigration since 1850.

Historical U.S. Immigration

For most of its early history, Europeans drove immigration to the United States.

The UK, Ireland, and Germany were especially big sources of American immigrants well into the 20th century. But around the 1960-70s this began to shift, with LatAm countries marking the next wave of U.S. immigration.

ℹ️ LatAm includes all Central American, Caribbean, and South American countries.

Here’s a sample of the history of U.S. immigration using select years and regions:

Region/Country1850 190019602000201020152019
🇲🇽 Mexico13.3K 103.4K575.9K9.2M11.7M11.6M10.9M
Rest of Asia377 36.7K379.0K6.2M7.9M8.8M9.2M
Rest of Latin America1.7K19.7K217.6K4.8M6.9M7.5M8.5M
Caribbean5.8K14.4K114.8K2.1M2.6M3.0M3.1M
Rest of Europe49.5K2.8M3.7M2.9M3.0M3.0M3.0M
🇮🇳 India-2.0K12.3K1.0M1.8M2.4M2.7M
Africa5512.5K35.4K881.3K1.6M2.1M2.5M
🇨🇳 China, excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan75881.5K99.7K988.9K1.6M2.1M2.3M
🇨🇦 Canada14.8K1.2M952.5K820.8K798.6K830.6K797.2K
🇬🇧 United Kingdom1.3M2.8M1.2M677.8K669.8K683.5K677.9K
🇩🇪 Germany583.8K2.7M989.8K706.7K604.6K585.3K537.7K
🇮🇹 Italy3.7K484.0K1.3M473.3K365.0K352.5K314.9K
Oceania5888.8K34.7K168.0K216.7K238.7K300.2K
🇫🇷 France54.1K104.2K111.6K151.2K148.0K173.6K171.5K
Share of U.S. Population Made up of Immigrants9.8%13.3%5.7%11.0%12.9%13.5%13.7%

LatAm Immigration

As of 2019, 22.6 million foreign-born people in the U.S. were originally from LatAm countries, with 10.9 million from Mexico alone.

Additionally, in 2021 Mexican citizens received the highest number of U.S. immigrant visas in the world at almost 40,600. Immigrant visas are the first step in the process to U.S. green cards and citizenship.

And though Asian countries are beginning to make up the majority of U.S. immigrant applicants and permits, other LatAm countries also ranked high in issued permits in 2021:

  • 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic: 17.9K
  • 🇸🇻 El Salvador: 7.8K
  • 🇪🇨 Ecuador: 5.1K
  • 🇨🇴 Colombia: 4.8K

Furthermore, there is also undocumented immigration to consider. According to 2019 figures from Brookings, there are between 10.5-12 million undocumented migrants living in the U.S.—making up just over 3% of the population.

Here’s a look at the top five countries in terms of undocumented immigration to the U.S. in 2019, most of which are LatAm countries:

CountryNumber of Immigrants% of Total Undocumented Population
🇲🇽 Mexico5,313,00048%
🇸🇻 El Salvador741,000 7%
🇬🇹 Guatemala724,0007%
🇮🇳 India553,0005%
🇭🇳 Honduras490,0004%

The Future of U.S. Immigration

In the last few years, more and more Asian countries are seeing their citizens leave for the United States. In addition, the knock-on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian War (as well as other global events and crises) could shift U.S. immigration even further away from LatAm.

Currently, the U.S. is only permitting small numbers of legal immigrants to enter the country each year, numbering in only the hundreds of thousands. But as birth rates decline, the growth in the foreign-born population will continue to be a much-discussed and important topic for the country’s demographics in the coming years.

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This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

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Politics

Visualizing the BRICS Expansion in 4 Charts

We provide a data-driven overview of how the recent BRICS expansion will grow the group’s influence and reach.

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Visualizing the BRICS Expansion in 4 Charts

BRICS is an association of five major countries including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Distinguished by their emerging economies, the group has sought to improve diplomatic coordination, reform global financial institutions, and ultimately serve as a counterbalance to Western hegemony.

On Aug. 24, 2023, BRICS announced that it would formally accept six new members at the start of 2024: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In this graphic, we provide a data-driven overview of how the BRICS expansion will grow the group’s influence and reach.

Share of Global GDP

Because most of the new BRICS members are considered to be developing economies, their addition to the group will not have a major impact on its overall share of GDP.

The following table includes GDP projections for 2023, courtesy of the IMF.

Original BRICS
Member
CountryGDP (USD billions)Share of Global (%)
Yes🇧🇷 Brazil$2,0812.0%
Yes🇷🇺 Russia$2,0632.0%
Yes🇮🇳 India$3,7373.6%
Yes🇨🇳 China$19,37418.4%
Yes🇿🇦 South Africa$3990.4%
No🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia$1,0621.0%
No🇮🇷 Iran$3680.4%
No🇪🇹 Ethiopia$1560.1%
No🇪🇬 Egypt$3870.4%
No🇦🇷 Argentina$6410.6%
No🇦🇪 UAE$4990.5%
-BRICS Total$30,76729.3%
-Rest of World$74,36270.7%

The original six BRICS members are expected to have a combined GDP of $27.6 trillion in 2023, representing 26.3% of the global total. With the new members included, expected GDP climbs slightly to $30.8 trillion, enough for a 29.3% global share.

Share of Global Population

BRICS has always represented a major chunk of global population thanks to China and India, which are the only countries with over 1 billion people.

The two biggest populations being added to BRICS are Ethiopia (126.5 million) and Egypt (112.7 million). See the following table for population data from World Population Review, which is dated as of 2023.

Original BRICS
Member
CountryPopulationShare of Global (%)
Yes🇧🇷 Brazil216,422,4462.7%
Yes🇷🇺 Russia144,444,3591.8%
Yes🇮🇳 India1,428,627,66317.8%
Yes🇨🇳 China1,425,671,35217.7%
Yes🇿🇦 South Africa60,414,4950.8%
No🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia36,947,0250.5%
No🇮🇷 Iran89,172,7671.1%
No🇪🇹 Ethiopia126,527,0601.6%
No🇪🇬 Egypt112,716,5981.4%
No🇦🇷 Argentina45,773,8840.6%
No🇦🇪 UAE9,516,8710.1%
-BRICS Total3.7 billion46.0%
-Rest of World4.3 billion54.0%

It’s possible that BRICS could eventually surpass 50% of global population, as many more countries have expressed their desire to join.

Share of Oil Production

Although the world is trying to move away from fossil fuels, the global oil market is still incredibly large—and BRICS is set to play a much bigger role in it. This is mostly due to the admission of Saudi Arabia, which alone accounts for 12.9% of global oil production.

Based on 2022 figures from the Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, BRICS’ share of oil production will grow from 20.4% to 43.1%.

Original BRICS
Member
CountryThousand Barrels
per Day
Share of Global (%)
Yes🇧🇷 Brazil3,1073.3%
Yes🇷🇺 Russia11,20211.9%
Yes🇮🇳 India7370.8%
Yes🇨🇳 China4,1114.4%
Yes🇿🇦 South Africa00.0%
No🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia12,13612.9%
No🇮🇷 Iran3,8224.1%
No🇪🇹 Ethiopia00.0%
No🇪🇬 Egypt6130.7%
No🇦🇷 Argentina7060.8%
No🇦🇪 UAE4,0204.3%
-BRICS Total40,45443.1%
-Rest of World53,39456.9%

It’s worth noting that China has been pushing for oil trade to be denominated in yuan, and that Saudi Arabia’s acceptance into BRICS could bolster this ambition, potentially shifting the dynamics of global oil trade.

Share of Global Exports

The last metric included in our graphic is global exports, which is based on 2022 data from the World Trade Organization. We can see that the BRICS expansion will grow the group’s share of global exports (merchandise trade) to 25.1%, up from 20.2%.

Original BRICS
Member
CountryExports (USD billions)Share of Global (%)
Yes🇧🇷 Brazil3341.3%
Yes🇷🇺 Russia5322.1%
Yes🇮🇳 India4531.8%
Yes🇨🇳 China3,59414.4%
Yes🇿🇦 South Africa1230.5%
No🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia4101.6%
No🇮🇷 Iran730.3%
No🇪🇹 Ethiopia3.90.02%
No🇪🇬 Egypt490.2%
No🇦🇷 Argentina880.4%
No🇦🇪 UAE5992.4%
-BRICS Total6,25925.1%
-Rest of World18,64674.9%

Unsurprisingly, China is the world’s largest exporter. Major exporters that are not a part of BRICS include the U.S. (8.3%), Germany (6.6%), the Netherlands (3.9%), and Japan (3.0%).

Who Else Wants to Join?

According to Reuters, there are over 40 countries that have expressed interest in joining BRICS. A smaller group of 16 countries have actually applied for membership, though, and this list includes Algeria, Cuba, Indonesia, Palestine, and Vietnam.

As the group grows in size, differing opinions and priorities among its members could create tensions in the future. For example, India and China have had numerous border disputes in recent years, while Brazil’s newly elected President has sought to “kickstart a new era of relations” with the U.S.

One thing that is certain, however, is that a new acronym for the group will be needed very soon.

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