An estimated 47.2 million people in the U.S. identified as Black in 2021. The Black population has grown by more than 10 million since 2000, when 36.2 million of the U.S. population identified as Black, marking a 30% increase over two decades.
In 2021, there were 4.8 million foreign-born Black Americans, about 10% of the U.S. Black population. This is an increase from 2000, when 2.4 million people, or 7%, among the Black population were foreign born.
In 2021, the single-race, non-Hispanic Black population was the largest demographic subgroup of U.S. Black population, numbering 39.3 million or 83% of the total. This marks an increase of 16% since 2000, when the population was 33.8 million.
About 3.9 million members of this population are immigrants from other countries, meaning 10% of single-race Black people are foreign born in 2021. This is an increase over 2000, when 1.9 million people (roughly 6%) among the single-race, non-Hispanic Black population were foreign born.
It’s important to mention that the share of those in the United States – not just Black Americans – who identify with more than one race has grown in recent years. Part of this is due to expansions in how the U.S. Census Bureau asks about ethnic and racial identity. Starting in 2000, the Census Bureau has provided respondents with the option to identify as more than one race. Besides that, younger people are more likely to identify with multiple racial or ethnic identities, on forms or otherwise.
In addition, there are people with multiple racial identities in their family history who do not describe their racial identity as two or more races. This suggests there is likely a discrepancy between the number of multiracial Black people in the U.S., as reported through demographic data analysis, and the number of multiracial Black people who identify themselves in this way.
The multiracial non-Hispanic Black population is the second-largest subgroup among Black Americans, with 5.2 million people – accounting for 11% of the overall Black population in 2021. It has grown from 1.5 million in 2000, marking a 238% increase.
Additionally, 400,000 members of the multiracial Black population are foreign born (8%), as of 2021. The number of foreign-born members of this group has increased from 250,000 people in 2000, but their share of the multiracial Black population has decreased from 16% in 2000.
There were 2.8 million Black Hispanic people in the U.S. in 2021, which was 6% of the total Black population that year, making this subgroup the smallest population group included in this analysis. This population has grown from 960,000 in 2000 to 2.8 million in 2021, marking a 191% increase.
Additionally, 500,000 members of this population are immigrants to the U.S., meaning that almost one-in-five Black Hispanics (18%) are foreign born. The number is an increase from 2000, when 260,000 Black Hispanic people were foreign born. However, this represents a decline in the share of the Black Hispanic population who are immigrants: That share has decreased from 27% in 2000 to 18% in 2021.
Notably, the Black Hispanic U.S. population is not necessarily the same population as the nation’s Afro-Latino population, as not all people who say they are Black and Hispanic identify as Afro-Latino and not all Afro-Latinos self-identify as Black, Hispanic or with both identities.
