North America Population Patterns

Immigration Information According to the Census Bureau's 2010 American Community Survey (ACS), the US immigrant population stood at almost 40 million, or 13 percent of the total US population of million. As of 2010, Mexican-born immigrants accounted for approximately 29 percent of the nearly 40 million foreign born residing in the United States, making them the largest immigrant group in the country by far. China accounted for 5 percent of all foreign born, followed by India and the Philippines, each comprising approximately 4 percent of the immigrant population. These four countries — together with Vietnam, El Salvador, Cuba, and Korea (at about 3 percent each), as well as the Dominican Republic and Guatemala (each about 2 percent) — made up almost 60 percent of all foreign born residing in the United States in According to the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS), an estimated 11.5 million unauthorized immigrants resided in the United States as of January 2011.

The People In recent centuries, people have immigrated to North America from all parts of the world for various reasons– primarily economic opportunity Created a diverse culture North America’s first immigrants may have come from Asia thousands of years ago. Native Americans

Population Density and Distribution About 90 percent of Canadians live within 50 miles of the United States-Canada border. Canada is larger in land area than the United States, but it has fewer people = smaller population density

In the United States, the Northeast, Great Lakes, and Pacific coast regions are the most densely populated areas: areas of commerce & industry Since the 1970s, the American South and Southwest, including California, (Sunbelt) have become the country’s fastest growing areas. Least densely populated = subarctic Alaska and desert Great Basin

The Cities Many population centers in both countries lie in coastal areas where healthy economies support large populations. A chain of cities stretching along the northern Atlantic coast of the United States (called Boswash)–Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.–is home to about 42 million people, known as a megalopolis. Coastal Cities Today most people in the United States and Canada live in metropolitan areas. (urbanization)

Vancouver, a year-round warm-water port, is the largest city in British Columbia and handles nearly all the trade between Canada and Asia. Megalopolis also occur around San Francisco (Silicon Valley), LA and San Diego Coastal Cities Other important U.S. coastal cities include the busy ports of Miami, on the Atlantic coast, and New Orleans and Houston, on the Gulf of Mexico.

These waterways offered both natural resources and transportation routes that contributed to the region’s economic growth. Inland Cities Important inland cities in North America are located on rivers or lakes.

Other inland cities, such as Dallas, Atlanta, Denver, and San Antonio in the United States and Regina and Calgary in Canada grew from agricultural or trading centers. Major inland cities include Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa in Canada, and Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh in the United States.

As immigration adds to population diversity, living with cultural differences and managing urban congestion are ongoing challenges. Future Trends Because of the low birthrates in Canada and the United States, most population growth in this region comes from immigration.