In 2000, 14.5 million, or about half, of the nation’s 28.4 million foreign-born residents were born in Latin America.
The size of the foreign-born population from Latin America has grown rapidly. In 1960, about 900,000 (or 9 percent of the total foreign-born population) came from Latin America. By 1990, this population numbered 8.4 million, or 44 percent of the total.