Nigeria currently stands third on the list of top birthplaces for black immigrants living in the United States, with about 390,000 people as of 2019. This is according to a report on black immigrants in the US by Pew Research Center.
The report reveals that Nigerian immigrants living in the United States had tripled in numbers in just less than 20 years. Notably, black immigrants of Nigerian descent living in the US rose from 130,000 recorded as of 2000 to 390,000 in 2019.
According to the report, Africa has accounted for the fastest growth in the U.S. Black immigrant population, but the Caribbean remains the largest origin region. Together, these two regions accounted for 88% of all Black foreign-born people in the U.S. as of 2019.
Between 2000 and 2019, the Black African immigrant population grew by 246%, from about 600,000 to 2 million. As a result, people of African origin now make up 42% of the country’s foreign-born black population, up from just 23% in 2000.
Meanwhile, New York City has the largest black immigrant population of any metropolitan area in the United States numbering about 1.1 million as of 2019. Miami metro area follows with roughly 490,000, while Washington, D.C., is home to roughly 260,000 black immigrants.
A cursory look at the report shows that the Dominican Republic and Nigeria were the two largest sources of family-sponsored entry to the U.S. in fiscal year 2019.
Nigerians continue to migrate abroad
Nigerians continue to troop in their numbers abroad with the US and Canada being top on the list of destinations. This is not surprising considering the level of social and infrastructural issues ravaging the Nigerian economy. This has resulted in significant human and intellectual flight from the most populous black nation.
Recall that over 18,000 Nigeria got Canadian permanent residency between 2018 and 2020, representing the third-highest highest on the list of countries who received invitations.
