Population Trends

Poverty is an issue that deeply divides the American public when it comes to how much of a role government should play in alleviating the problems of the poor.

The number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States has stabilized since the end of the Great Recession and shows no sign of rising, according to new Pew Research Center estimates. The marked slowdown in new arrivals means that those who remain are more likely to be long-term residents, and to live with their U.S.-born children.

Puerto Ricans have left the financially troubled island for the U.S. mainland this decade in their largest numbers since the Great Migration after World War II, citing job-related reasons above all others.

Census figures show that North Dakota led the nation in population growth over the past five years, at 12%, and men have accounted for two-thirds of it.

*Visit the most recent data. This statistical profile of the foreign-born population is based on Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trends Project tabulations of the Census Bureau’s 2012 American Community Survey (ACS). Users should exercise caution when comparing the 2012 estimates with estimates for previous years. Population estimates in the 2012 ACS are based on the […]

For the first time in 50 years, the share of couples in which the wife is the one “marrying down” educationally is higher than those in which the husband has more education.

The global population is graying and growing rapidly. How big -- and how old -- will it be by 2050?

The demographic future for the U.S. and the world looks very different than the recent past. Growth from 1950 to 2010 was rapid—the global population nearly tripled, and the U.S. population doubled. However, population growth from 2010 to 2050 is projected to be significantly slower and is expected to tilt strongly to the oldest age […]

American Jews overwhelmingly say they are proud to be Jewish and have a strong sense of belonging to the Jewish people, but their identity is also changing: 22% of American Jews now say they have no religion.

A major new Pew Research Center survey illuminates the many different ways in which Americans may self-identify as Jewish or partially Jewish. The survey provides a sense of how the size of the population varies depending on one’s definition of who is a Jew. Use the checkboxes below to calculate the size of the U.S. […]