immigration and emigration

Movement of people from one country to another. Immigration is movement to a country; emigration is movement from a country. Immigration or emigration on a large scale is often for economic reasons or because of religious, political, or social persecution (which may create refugees), and often results in restrictive legislation by individual countries. The USA has received immigrants on a larger scale than any other country, more than 50 million during its history.

Census Bureau statistics at the end of 1999 showed that the proportion of US residents who were born outside the USA was 9.3%. The fastest-growing group of immigrants are foreign-born Hispanics, whose numbers grew by 34% between 1990 and 1998.