在外國出生美國人口數創(chuàng)新高，新移民多來自亞洲

WASHINGTON — The foreign-born population in the United States has reached its highest share since 1910, according to government data released Thursday, and the new arrivals are more likely to come from Asia and to have college degrees than those who arrived in past decades.

華盛頓——根據周四公布的政府數據，美國的外國出生人口數量已達到自1910年以來的最高，和過去幾十年相比，新移民更有可能來自亞洲并擁有大學學位。

The Census Bureau’s figures for 2017 confirm a major shift in who is coming to the United States. For years newcomers tended to be from Latin America, but a Brookings Institution analysis of that data shows that 41 percent of the people who said they arrived since 2010 came from Asia. Just 39 percent were from Latin America. About 45 percent were college educated, the analysis found, compared with about 30 percent of those who came between 2000 and 2009.

人口調查局2017年的數據證實了赴美者的重大轉變。多年來，新移民往往來自拉丁美洲，但布魯金斯學會(Brookings Institution)對這些數據的分析顯示，自2010年以來，有41%的人來自亞洲。只有39%來自拉丁美洲。分析發(fā)現，大約45%的人接受過大學教育，而2000年至2009年間，這一比例約為30%。

“This is quite different from what we had thought,” said William H. Frey, the senior demographer at the Brookings Institution who conducted the analysis. “We think of immigrants as being low-skilled workers from Latin America, but for recent arrivals that’s much less the case. People from Asia have overtaken people from Latin America.”

“這與我們過去的想法截然不同，”布魯金斯學會高級人口統(tǒng)計學家威廉·H·弗雷(William H. Frey)說。“我們認為移民是來自拉丁美洲的低技能工人，但在最近到來的移民中，這種情況少得多了。來自亞洲的人已經超過拉丁美洲人。”

The new data was released as the nation’s changing demography has become a flash point in American politics. President Trump, and many Republicans, have sounded alarms about immigration and suggested the government needs to restrict both the number and types of people coming into the country.

新數據的公布正值美國變化的人口構成成為全國政治焦點之時。特朗普總統(tǒng)和許多共和黨人都對移民發(fā)出了警告，并建議政府需要限制進入美國的人口數量和類型。

The foreign-born population stood at 13.7 percent in 2017, or 44.5 million people, according to the data, compared with 13.5 percent in 2016.

根據數據顯示，2017年，在外國出生的人口為13.7%，即4450萬人，而2016年為13.5%。

The last historic peak in immigration to the United States came at the end of the 19th century, when large numbers of Europeans fled poverty and violence in their home countries. Some of the largest numbers came from Germany, Italy and Poland. That wave peaked around the turn of the century, when the total foreign-born population stood at nearly 15 percent. But after the passage of strict racial quotas in the 1920s, the foreign-born population fell sharply for decades in the middle of the 20th century. By 1970, the population was below 5 percent.

移民美國的上一個歷史性高峰發(fā)生在19世紀末，當時大量歐洲人為了逃離本國的貧困和暴力來到美國，其中數量最多的人群包括德國人、意大利人和波蘭人。這波浪潮在世紀之交達到頂峰，當時外國出生的人口總數接近15%。但在1920年代，嚴格的種族配額制度通過后，外國出生的人口在20世紀中葉的幾十年里急劇下降。到1970年，該人群比例低于5%。

The passage of a more liberal immigration law in 1965, which ended ethnic quotas and prioritized family reunification, ushered in new demographics. And the changes have only accelerated in recent years.

1965年通過了一項更加自由的移民法，結束了種族配額，并優(yōu)先考慮家庭團聚，開創(chuàng)了新的人口構成統(tǒng)計數據。而這些變化近年來才加速。

For many years, Mexico was the single largest contributor of immigrants. But since 2010, the number of immigrants arriving from Mexico has declined, while those from China and India have surged. Since 2010, the increase in the number of people from Asia — 2.6 million — was more than double the 1.2 million who came from Latin America, Mr. Frey found.

墨西哥曾連續(xù)多年成為移民的唯一最大促成因素。但自2010年以來，來自墨西哥的移民數量有所下降，而來自中國和印度的移民數量激增。弗雷發(fā)現，自2010年以來，來自亞洲的人數增加了260萬，比來自拉丁美洲的120萬人多了一倍多。

Some of the largest gains were in states with the smallest immigrant populations, suggesting that immigrants were spreading out in the country. New York and California, states with large immigrant populations, both had increases of less than six percent since 2010. But foreign-born populations rose by 20 percent in Tennessee, 13 percent in Ohio, 12 percent in South Carolina and 20 percent in Kentucky over the same period.

一些最大幅的增長來自移民人口最少的州，這表明移民正在美國廣泛蔓延。自2010年以來，擁有大量移民人口的紐約州和加利福尼亞州的增幅都不到6%。但同時期田納西州的外國出生人口增長率為20%，俄亥俄州為13%，南卡羅來納州為12%，肯塔基州為20%。

The data also suggests a political pattern among states with large percentages of foreign-born residents. Of the 15 states with the highest concentration of immigrants, all but three — Florida, Texas and Arizona — voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. Many of the states with low and moderate concentrations of foreign-born people voted for Mr. Trump, Mr. Frey found.

這些數據還表明，在擁有大比例外國出生居民的州中存在一種政治模式。在移民密度最高的15個州中，除佛羅里達州、德克薩斯州和亞利桑那州之外的所有州都在2016年總統(tǒng)競選中投票支持希拉里·克林頓(Hillary Clinton)。弗雷發(fā)現，許多外國出生人口密度較低和密度中等的州投票支持特朗普。

In those low-concentration states, foreign-born populations tended to be more educated than the native-born. In Ohio, for example, 43 percent of the foreign-born population is college educated, compared with just 27 percent of American-born Ohioans. About 43 percent of the foreign-born population is from Asia, far more than the 20 percent from Latin America.

在那些低密度的州，外國出生的人口往往比本土出生的人口受教育程度更高。例如，在俄亥俄州，43%的外國出生人口接受過大學教育，而在美國出生的俄亥俄州人中只有27%。大約43%的外國出生人口來自亞洲，遠遠超過拉丁美洲的20%。

The same can be true in states with large immigrant populations. About 15 percent of the population of Maryland last year was foreign-born. Of those people, 42 percent had college degrees, compared with 39 percent of American-born Marylanders.

在擁有大量移民人口的州也可能如此。馬里蘭州去年約有15%的國外出生人口。在這些人中，42%擁有大學學位，而美國出生的馬里蘭人的比例則為39%。

Chao Wu, a data scientist in Columbia, Maryland, who came from China in 2003, said he had long known about Asian graduate students in the United States, because he had been one. But it wasn’t until he started running for a seat on his county’s board of education that he noticed the richness and variation in the population.

2003年，來自中國的馬里蘭州哥倫比亞數據科學家趙武(音)表示，他早就了解美國的亞洲研究生情況，因為他曾經是其中一員。但直到他開始競選縣教育委員會的一個席位時，才注意到這個人群的豐富性和變異性。

“I increased my outreach and I realized there was a big Asian-American business community, with restaurants and grocery stores,” he said. He said he recently helped organize a ceremony in his town with a sister city in China. A portion of Route 40 was renamed Korean Way.

“我拓展了自己的接觸范圍，我意識到這里有一個大型的亞裔商戶社區(qū)，有餐館和雜貨店，”他說。他還說，最近在他所在的城市，他參與組織了一個與中國姐妹城市舉辦的儀式。40號公路的一部分更名為韓國路。

But the rising levels of education are not lifting everyone. Asian-Americans are now the most economically divided racial or ethnic group in the country, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. Income inequality among Asian-Americans nearly doubled from 1970 to 2016.

但是，不斷上升的教育水平并沒有令所有人都得到提升。根據皮尤研究中心(Pew Research Center)的分析，亞裔美國人現在是美國經濟上差異最大的種族或族裔群體。從1970年到2016年，亞裔美國人的收入不平等幾乎翻了一番。

While people from Asia make up the largest share of recent newcomers, a majority of the country’s total foreign-born population is still from Latin America — 50 percent, compared to 31 percent from Asia.

雖然來自亞洲的人口占最近新移民的最大份額，但外國出生人口多數仍來自拉丁美洲，占50%，而亞裔占31%。

North Dakota had the single largest percentage increase in foreign-born residents since 2010, Mr. Frey said, with the number going up by 87 percent. Dr. Fadel E. Nammour, a gastroenterologist in Fargo, N.D., who moved to the United States from Lebanon in 1996, said he has noticed more immigrant-owned restaurants since he moved to North Dakota in 2002. In recent years, the state has settled refugees from countries including Iraq, Somalia and Congo. In all, foreign-born people in North Dakota rose to 31,000 in 2017 from just 16,600 in 2010, Mr. Frey found.

弗雷說，自2010年以來，北達科他州的外國出生居民增幅最大，增長率達到87%。1996年從黎巴嫩移居美國的胃腸病學家法德爾·E·那默爾(Fadel E. Nammour)博士表示，自2002年搬到北達科他州以來，他注意到移民開的餐館更多了。近年來，該州有來自伊拉克、索馬里和剛果等國的難民。弗雷發(fā)現，總體而言，北達科他州的外國出生人口從2010年的1.66萬人增加到了2017年的3.1萬人。

“There is more diversity now,” Dr. Nammour said. “You can tell by food. There are Indian places that opened up. We have an African place now. Little things that are a little bit different.”

“現在有更多的多樣性，”那默爾說。“你可以通過食物來判斷。開了一些印度餐廳。現在還有一個非洲餐廳。那些小事情現在有了一些小小的不同。”