Press
Release
October 30, 2008
Contact: Michelle Mittelstadt
202-266-1910
mmittelstadt@migrationpolicy.org
WASHINGTON – As the United States prepares to commemorate
Veterans Day on Nov. 11, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
is releasing an analysis of a sometimes overlooked group of U.S.
armed forces veterans: those born in other countries.
As the MPI
Fact Sheet shows, there are over 644,000 foreign-born veterans
of the U.S. armed forces, accounting for nearly 3 percent of
all surviving U.S. veterans. This figure does not include those
currently serving in the military.
MPI analyzed U.S. Census Bureau
data from the recently released 2007 American Community Survey
to produce this demographic snapshot of foreign-born veterans,
including their country or region of birth, current state of
residence and periods of service.
The analysis shows that most
foreign-born U.S. veterans migrated from European or Latin American
countries. The countries where the highest numbers of U.S. immigrant
veterans were born were the Philippines – representing
12 percent of foreign-born veterans– and Mexico, birthplace
to 11 percent.
California and Florida are home to one-third of
all the foreign-born U.S. veterans, with sizeable numbers also
found in New York, Texas, New Jersey and Virginia.
The Fact Sheet
is available online at www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/FS22_Veterans_103008.pdf
For information on the foreign born currently serving in the U.S.
military, see the Migration Information Source article “Immigrants
in the U.S. Armed Forces” by MPI Policy Analyst Jeanne Batalova
at: http://www.migrationinformation.org/USFocus/display.cfm?ID=683
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The Migration Policy Institute is an independent,
non-partisan, non-profit think tank in Washington, DC dedicated
to analysis of the movement of people worldwide. MPI provides
analysis, development and evaluation of migration and refugee
policies at the local, national and international levels. |
