FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release #4-99
November 8, 1999
THE
DEPARTMENT OF CITY PLANNING RELEASE NEWEST
NEW YORKERS 1995-1996: AN UPDATE OF IMMIGRATION TO THE
CITY IN THE MID’90's
Update Provides
Details on Over 231,000 Immigrants Who Settled in New
York City Between 1995-1996
The
New York City Department of City Planning today released The Newest New Yorkers: 1995-1996: An Update of Immigration
to NYC in the Mid ’90s. The detailed document
prepared by the Population Division of the Department,
provides an extensive description of the more than 231,000
immigrants who came to New York City during 1995-1996.
The report serves as a supplement to The Newest New
Yorkers: 1990-1994 released in 1996 which was an
across-the-board study of the nearly 563,000 immigrants
who came to the City in the first five years of this
decade.
The
immigration data show that the top sources over the
last two years were: the former Soviet Union, the Dominican
Republic, China, Jamaica and Guyana. While the Caribbean,
Europe and Asia remain major sources of immigrants to
the City, New York’s status as the pre-eminent
global city, with links to all corners of the world,
is reflected in its changing immigrant base. Countries
such as Bangladesh, Ghana, Nigeria, and Egypt have now
emerged as major sources of immigrants to the City.
Joseph
B. Rose, Chairman of the City Planning Commission, said,
"New York continues to draw record numbers of immigrants
-- numbers not seen since the early decades of this
century. This continuing strong influx of human capital
into New York City is a key ingredient of our economic
strength and of the revitalization of many neighborhoods.
New York City’s continued welcome to immigrants
has allowed it to thrive while may other older cities
have not."
The Newest New Yorkers series focuses on key shifts
in the country mix of immigrants and their settlement
patterns. Data on the size, country of birth, class
of admission and settlement patterns of immigrants are
examined. The document also analyzes emerging immigrant
groups in the City and some of the key demographic and
housing impacts of immigration. The update shows that
more than ever, the character of New York is shaped
by the increasingly diverse group of immigrants who
settle in the five boroughs.
The
report includes the following key findings:
- During
the two year period 1995-96, over 231,000 immigrants
settled in New York City, for an annual average of
115,700. This was a 2.7 percent increase from the
average in the early 1990s.
- The
increase in immigration was primarily due to the growth
in refugee flows and a surge in those entering under
the "diversity" provisions of immigration
law, which were enacted to increase the flow of groups
underrepresented in the immigration stream to the
U.S.
- Europe
accounted for over 25 percent of the flow, up from
20 percent in the early 1990s. Africa more than doubled
its share of immigrants to over five percent, from
two percent, in 1995-96. The Caribbean accounted for
the largest share of immigrants (29 percent), Asia
accounted for 25 percent of immigration, and South
America for 11 percent.
- The
top senders of immigrants to NYC were the former Soviet
Union (accounting for 18 percent of all immigrants
to the city), the Dominican Republic with 17 percent,
China with 10 percent, Jamaica and Guyana at five
percent each.
- The
former Soviet Union was the number one source of immigrants,
eclipsing the Dominican Republic which has been the
number one sender to the city since the early 1970s.
In the 1995-1996 period, flows averaged over 20,000
annually, an increase of over 50 percent since the
early 1990s.
- Sixty-one
percent of immigrants to the city entered under the
family reunification provisions of the law. Over 11
percent of immigrants entered under the employment
preferences and over 10 percent entered annually under
the "diversity program." Refugees accounted
for 17 percent of all immigrants to the city.
New
Sources of Immigration are as follows:
- Immigration
from Bangladesh nearly doubled from 1,900 annually
in the early 1990s to 3,900 in 1995-1996. Close to
one-half of Bangladeshis entered under the diversity
visa program. Bangladesh is now the sixth largest
source of immigrants to the city, up from 14th place in the early 1990s.
- As
a result of diversity legislation, for the first time,
African countries — Ghana, Nigeria, and Egypt
— emerged as major players in New York’s
immigration tableau.
- While
legal flows directly from Mexico to the city have
been relatively small, the Mexican population in the
city has grown dramatically, primarily through very
high fertility and through internal migration —
flows originating in other parts of the U.S. Between
1990 and 1996, there were nearly 29,000 births to
Mexican-born mothers, or over three percent of all
births in the city. Among foreign-born mothers, births
to Mexicans were exceeded by only Dominicans and Jamaicans.
Current estimates prepared by the Population Division
place New York City's Mexican population in the range
of 200,000 persons, making it the third largest Hispanic
group in the city, after Puerto Ricans and Dominicans.
The
Newest New Yorkers: 1995-1996: An Update of Immigration
to NYC in the Mid ’90s is available for purchase
at the Department of City Planning Bookstore, located
at 22 Reade Street, ground floor. For further information,
please call (212) 720-3667.
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