Immigrants to U.S. by Country of Origin

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

Figures are totals, not annual averages, and were tabulated as follows: 1820–1867, alien passengers arrived; 1868–1891 and 1895–1897, immigrant aliens arrived; 1892–1894 and 1898 to present, immigrant aliens admitted. From 1989 totals include legalized immigrants. (Data before 1906 relate to country whence alien came; 1906–1980, to country of last permanent residence; 1981 to present data based on country of birth.)

Countries	1996	1820–1996	1981–90	1971–80	1961–70	1951–60	1941–50	1820–1940
Europe: Albania¹	4,007	12,230	479	329	98	59	85	2,040
Austria²	554	2,664,728	4,636	9,478	20,621	67,106	24,860	2,534,617
Belgium	651	212,894	5,706	5,329	9,192	18,575	12,189	158,205
Bulgaria³	2,066	78,029	2,342	1,188	619	104	375	65,856
Former Czechoslovakia¹	1,389	156,848	11,500	6,023	3,273	918	8,347	120,013
Denmark	608	374,287	5,380	4,439	9,201	10,984	5,393	335,025
Estonia¹	280	2,254	137	91	163	185	212	506
Finland¹	602	40,315	3,265	2,868	4,192	4,925	2,503	19,593
France	3,079	795,259	23,124	25,069	45,237	51,121	38,809	594,998
Germany²	6,748	7,105,301	70,111	74,414	190,796	477,765	226,578	6,021,951
Greece	1,452	704,679	29,130	92,369	85,969	47,608	8,973	430,608
Hungary²	1,183	167,871	9,764	6,550	5,401	36,637	3,469	1,609,158
Ireland	1,731	4,780,891	32,823	11,490	32,966	48,362	14,789	4,580,557
Italy	2,501	5,353,213	32,894	129,368	214,111	185,491	57,661	4,719,223
Latvia¹	736	6,603	359	207	510	352	361	1,192
Lithuania¹	1,080	7,967	482	248	562	242	683	2,201
Luxembourg¹	32	3,284	234	307	556	684	820	565
Netherlands	1,423	382,109	11,958	10,492	30,606	52,277	14,860	253,759
Norway⁴	354	756,448	3,901	3,941	15,484	22,935	10,100	697,095
Poland⁵	8,481	743,376	97,390	37,234	53,539	9,985	7,571	414,755
Portugal	3,766	518,753	40,020	101,710	76,065	19,588	7,423	256,044
Romania⁶	5,198	246,657	39,963	12,393	2,531	1,039	1,076	156,945
Spain	1,591	289,611	15,698	39,141	44,659	7,894	2,898	170,123
Sweden⁴	1,098	1,398,578	10,211	6,531	17,116	21,697	10,665	1,325,208
Switzerland	677	362,792	7,076	8,235	18,453	17,675	10,547	295,680
United Kingdom	13,657	5,197,150	142,123	137,374	213,822	202,824	139,306	4,266,561
Former U.S.S.R.⁷	2,588	3,749,777	84,081	38,961	2,465	671	571	3,343,361
Former Yugoslavia³	2,011	158,540	19,182	30,540	20,381	8,225	1,576	56,787
Other Europe	3,605	65,875	2,661	4,049	4,904	9,799	3,447	36,060
Total Europe	147,581	36,410,452	705,630	800,368	1,123,492	1,325,727	621,147	32,468,776
Asia: China⁸	25,106	1,232,740	388,686	124,326	34,764	9,657	16,709	382,173
India	44,859	703,339	261,841	164,134	27,189	1,973	1,761	9,873
Israel	3,126	152,473	36,353	37,713	29,602	25,476	476	—
Japan⁹	6,011	498,333	43,248	49,775	39,988	46,250	1,555	277,591
Turkey	3,657	425,601	20,843	13,399	10,142	3,519	798	361,236
Other Asia	207,413	5,010,282	2,042,025	1,198,831	285,957	66,374	15,729	44,053
Total Asia¹⁰	268,248	8,000,844	2,066,455	1,588,178	427,642	153,249	37,028	1,074,926
America: Canada and Newfoundland¹¹	15,825	4,348,541	119,204	169,939	413,310	377,952	171,718	3,005,728
Central America	44,289	1,153,217	458,753	134,640	101,330	44,751	21,665	49,154
Mexico¹²	163,572	5,246,392	1,653,250	640,294	453,937	299,811	60,589	778,255
South America	61,769	1,588,408	455,977	295,741	257,954	91,628	21,831	121,302
West Indies	116,801	3,372,716	892,392	741,126	470,213	123,091	49,725	446,971
Other America¹²	51	117,574	1,352	995	19,630	59,711	29,276	56
Total America	340,540	15,945,081	3,580,928	1,982,735	1,716,374	996,944	354,804	4,401,466
Africa	52,889	561,569	192,212	80,779	28,954	14,092	7,367	26,060
Australia and New Zealand	2,750	160,870	20,169	23,788	19,562	11,506	13,805	54,437
Pacific Islands¹³	—	63,034	21,041	17,454	5,560	1,470	746	11,089
Countries not specified¹⁴	5	272,254	196	12	93	12,491	142	253,689
Total all countries	605,793	61,207,884	7,338,062	4,493,314	3,321,677	2,515,479	1,035,039	38,290,443

1. Countries established since beginning of World War I are included with countries to which they belonged.

2. Data for Austria-Hungary not reported until 1861. Austria and Hungary recorded separately after 1905, Austria included with Germany 1938–45.

3. Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro first reported in 1899. Bulgaria reported separately since 1920. In 1920, separate enumeration for Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, Slovenes; since 1922, recorded as Yugoslavia.

4. Norway included with Sweden 1820–68.

5. Included with Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Russia 1899–1919.

6. No record of immigration until 1880.

7. From 1931–63, the U.S.S.R. was broken down into European U.S.S.R. and Asian U.S.S.R. Since 1964, total U.S.S.R. has been reported in Europe.

8. Beginning in 1957, China includes Taiwan.

9. No record of immigration until 1861.

10. From 1934, Asia included Philippines; before 1934, recorded in separate tables as insular travel.

11. Includes all British North American possessions, 1820–98.

12. No record of immigration, 1886–93.

13. Included with “Countries not specified” prior to 1925.

14. Includes 32,897 persons returning in 1906 to their homes in U.S.

NOTE: Data are latest available.