Select Diaspora Populations in the United States

Developing a Road Map for Engaging Diasporas in Development

Highlights

Profiles of U.S. diaspora communities from 15 countries reflect how they drive homeland development through remittances and human capital. But their investment potential remains underutilized.

MPI profiles 15 U.S. diaspora communities from Bangladesh, Colombia, El Salvador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, India, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam, drawing on data for nearly 60 million U.S. first- and second-generation immigrants.

Profiles cover educational attainment, household income, employment, geographic distribution, and remittance volumes, showing wide variation in socioeconomic status and development contributions across communities.

Five extended profiles, covering Colombia, Egypt, India, Kenya, and the Philippines, add historical immigration pathways, active diaspora organizations, and origin-country policies for engaging emigrants abroad.

Diaspora members often continue shaping their countries of origin across generations, making them key partners for efforts to foster greater financial and human capital investment.

Diaspora populations often perform essential functions in the economic and human capital development of their countries of origin, and can continue playing a strong role in shaping these countries long after they or their forebears departed. The Rockefeller Foundation and the Aspen Institute have launched the Rockefeller Foundation-Aspen Institute Diaspora Program (RAD), a joint venture to better understand diaspora members’ financial and human capital investments and to design an approach to foster further growth in these areas. The Migration Policy Institute has partnered with RAD to produce profiles of 15 diaspora communities in the United States, which is home to nearly 60 million first- or second-generation immigrants.

These profiles address 15 different diaspora populations in the United States, gathering in one place key data and analysis on diasporas from Bangladesh, Colombia, El Salvador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, India, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Each profile explores the demographic characteristics of first- and second-generation immigrants in a particular diaspora, their educational attainment, household income, employment patterns, geographic distribution, and remittance volume.

Five longer profiles, focusing on Colombia, Egypt, India, Kenya, and the Philippines, also detail historical immigration pathways and contemporary entry trends, poverty status, active diaspora organizations, and country-of-origin policies and institutions related to interaction with emigrants and their descendants abroad.