A Record 64.7 Million in U.S. Spoke a Foreign Language at Home in 2015

Article subtitle: 
The number has doubled since 1990, tripled since 1980
Article CAIRCO note: 
Largest percentage growth: Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia
Article publisher: 
Center for Immigration Studies
Article date: 
18 October 2016
Article category: 
National News
Tags: 
immigration
assimilation
diversity
English
multiculturalism
Article link: 
Excerpts are included below - read the original complete article
Medium
Article Body: 

An analysis of newly released Census Bureau data by the Center for Immigration Studies shows explosive growth in the number of U.S. residents five years of age and older who speak a language other than English at home. In 2015 a record 64.7 million U.S. residents spoke a foreign language at home – up 5.2 million since 2010 and up 1.5 million in just the last year. The largest percentage increase from 2010 to 2015 was for speakers of Arabic, Hindi (an India language) and Urdu (Pakistan's national language). More than one in five U.S. residents now speaks a foreign language at home.
 
 "A common language is the means by which immigrant groups communicate with each other and with the larger society," said Steven Camarota, the Center's Director of Research and co-author of the new report. "Due mainly to the extremely high level of legal immigration, we may be losing one of the foundations that helps hold together a diverse society. Unfortunately, too many of our policymakers give little consideration to the impact immigration levels have on assimilation."
 
View the entire report.
 
Among the findings:

  • In 2015 a record 64.7 million U.S. residents (both foreign-born and native-born) age 5 and older spoke a language other than English at home.  
     
  • The largest percentage increases 2010 to 2015 were among speakers of Arabic (up 34%), Hindi (up 33%), Urdu (up 24%), Chinese (up 19%), French Creole (up 16%), Gujarati (up 14%) and Persian (up 13%). Hindi and Guajarati are languages of India, Urdu is spoken in Pakistan, French Creole is spoken in Haiti, and Persian is the national language of Iran.  
     
  • The largest numerical increases 2010 to 2015 were among speakers of Spanish (up 3.1 million), Chinese (up 525,000), Arabic (up 292,000), Hindi (up 203,000), Tagalog (up 163,000), French Creole (up 117,000) and Urdu (up 92,000). Tagalog is spoken in the Philippines.  
     
  • Languages with more than a million speakers in 2015 are Spanish (40 million), Chinese (3.3 million), Tagalog (1.7 million), Vietnamese (1.5 million), French (1.3 million), Arabic (1.2 million) and Korean (1.1 million).  
     
  • Although all the data has not been released for 2015, what has been released indicates that nearly one in four public school students now speak a language other than English at home.  
     
  • Many of those who speak a foreign language at home are not immigrants. Half of the growth in foreign language speakers since 2010 is among those born in the United States.  
     
  • Of those who speak a foreign language at home, 26 million (40 percent) told the Census Bureau that they speak English less than very well.
Article final link: 
The above article contains excerpts - we encourage you to read the complete original article
The CAIRCO Report
Advocating for the rights of future generations of Americans.
Our primary focus includes issues of Western Civilization, American sovereignty, sustainability,
and the environmental and societal consequences of unending immigration-driven population growth.
This website is a project of Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform (CAIRCO) - founded in the mid 1990s.
Copyright 1995-2024 Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform
Fair Use: This site contains copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues related to mass immigration and the transformation of America. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information, see: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/108, https://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/10.html, and https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fair_use. In order to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.