Page 477 - Essencials of Sociology

450 CHAPTER 14 Population and Urbanization

affect the global population: People are
simply shifting their residence from one
country or region to another.
What motivates people to give up the
security of their family and friends to move
to a country with a strange language and
unfamiliar customs? To understand migra-
tion, we need to look at both “pushes” and
“pulls.” The pushes are the things people
want to escape: poverty, violence, war, or
persecution for their religious and political
ideas. The pulls are the magnets that draw
people to a new land, such as opportunities
for education, better jobs, the freedom to
worship or to discuss political ideas, and a
more promising future for their children.
After “migrant paths” are established, immi-
gration often accelerates—networks of kin
and friends attract more people from the
same nation, even from the same villages.
Around the world, the flow of migration
Current U.S. immigration shows is from the Least Industrialized Nations to
great diversity. During this ceremony the industrialized countries. By far, the United States is the world’s number one choice.
on Ellis Island, New York, over 100
people from 44 countries were sworn The United States admits more immigrants each year than all the other nations of the
in as American citizens. world combined. Thirty-eight million residents—one of every eight Americans—were
born in other countries (Statistical Abstract 2013:Table 41). Table 14.2 below shows
where recent U.S. immigrants were born. With the economic crisis, this flow has slowed
somewhat (Chishti and Bergeron 2010).
To escape grinding poverty, such as that which surrounds Celia and Angel, millions
Explore on MySocLab
Activity: Where in the United of people also enter the United States illegally. Although it may seem surprising, as
States Do You Find the Largest Figure 14.8 on the next page shows, U.S. officials have sufficient information on these
Minority Populations? approximately 12 million people to estimate their countries of origin.
Experts cannot agree on whether immigrants are a net contributor to the U.S. economy
or a drain on it. Adding what immigrants produce in jobs and taxes and subtracting what
they cost in welfare and the medical and school systems, some economists conclude that

TABLE 14.2 Country of Birth of Authorized U.S. Immigrants

Asia 3,785,000 El Salvador 252,000 South America 906,000
China 663,000 Haiti 214,000 Colombia 251,000
India 663,000 Jamaica 181,000 Peru 146,000
Philippines 587,000 Canada 168,000 Brazil 124,000
Vietnam 306,000 Guatemala 161,000 Ecuador 113,000
Korea 222,000 Venezuela 85,000
Pakistan 157,000 Europe 1,264,000 Guyana 76,000
Iran 126,000 Ukraine 149,000 Argentina 51,000
154,000
United Kingdom
Bangladesh 107,000 Russia 140,000 Africa 860,000
Taiwan 88,000 Poland 117,000 Nigeria 111,000
Japan 76,000 Bosnia and Herzegovina 89,000 Ethiopia 110,000
North America 3,605,000 Germany 78,000 Egypt 73,000
Mexico 1,693,000 Romania 54,000 Somalia 64,000
Cuba 318,000 Albania 51,000 Ghana 65,000
Dominican Republic 329,000

Note: Totals are for the top countries of origin for 2001–2010, the latest years available.
Source: By the author. Based on Statistical Abstract of the United States 2013:Table 50.