Why Int’l Pub News Matters: 70 Million Americans Have Foreign-Born Parents

By Edward Nawotka

Sometimes when talking to American publishers about Publishing Perspectives, and mentioning that our focus is on covering international publishing, I get the reaction — “Oh, that isn’t for me then.” Well, of course it is silly — American publishing is part of international publishing. Yes, we Americans can be parochial at times (aren’t we all, at times?). But if new statistics from the Census Bureau are any indication, it would make good sense for US publishers to start paying more attention to the international scene.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 36.7 million of the nation’s population (12 percent) were foreign-born, and another 33 million (11 percent) were native-born with at least one foreign-born parent in 2009, making one in five people either first or second generation U.S. residents.

The second generation were more likely than the foreign born to be better educated and have higher earnings and less likely to be in poverty. In 2009, 59 percent of the native-born 25 and older with at least one foreign-born parent had some college education and 33 percent had a bachelor’s degree. That compares with 45 percent of the foreign-born who had some college and 29 percent who had a bachelor’s degree.

You can read the full report here.

(Story via DocuTicker)