Chapter 1. Demographics

Indicator 3. Nativity of the Youth Population

Changes in the demographic characteristics of today's youth can also be characterized by whether they were born in the United States or moved here later. In 2009, about 13 percent of the U.S. population was born outside of the United States (meaning the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia). A smaller percentage of youth ages 15 to 19 (7 percent) were born outside of the United States compared to the percentage of the total population born outside of the United States in 2009. The percentage of young adults ages 20 to 24 who were born outside of the United States was 12 percent.

The percentage of youth (15- to 19-year-olds) born outside of the United States was higher in 2000 (9 percent) than in 1990 (7 percent); however, in 2009 it was back to 7 percent. The percentage of young adults followed a similar pattern, 10 percent in 1990, about 15 percent in 2000, and 12 percent in 2009. For all the years shown, a higher percentage of young adults than youth were born outside of the United States.

View Table 3
View Figure 3