The glossary below may define terms not included in the main Glossary on census.gov
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The U.S. Census Bureau uses the term foreign-born to refer to anyone who is not a U.S. citizen at birth. This includes naturalized U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (immigrants), temporary migrants (such as foreign students), humanitarian migrants (such as refugees and asylees), and unauthorized migrants.
The Census Bureau collects data from all foreign-born who participate in its censuses and surveys, regardless of legal status. Thus, unauthorized migrants are included in Census Bureau estimates of the total foreign-born population. However, it is not possible to tabulate separate estimates of unauthorized migrants or any other legal status category.
The foreign-born population is composed of anyone who is not a U.S. citizen at birth. This includes persons who have become U.S. citizens through naturalization. Everyone else is counted among the native-born population, which comprises anyone who is a U.S. citizen at birth, including people born in the United States, Puerto Rico, a U.S. Island Area (Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), or abroad to a U.S. citizen parent or parents.
The Census Bureau uses the term generational status to refer to the place of birth of an individual or an individual’s parents. Questions on place of birth and parental place of birth are used to define the first, second, and third-and-higher generations. The first generation is composed of individuals who are foreign-born. The second generation refers to those with at least one foreign-born parent. The third-and-higher generation includes individuals with two U.S. native parents.
Nativity status refers to whether a person is native-born or foreign-born.