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Characteristics of Selected Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean Ancestry Groups in the United States: 2008–2012

American Community Survey Reports

By Stella U. Ogunwole, Karen R. Battle, and Darryl T. Cohen
Issued June 2017

ACS-34

INTRODUCTION

The population reporting Ethiopian, Nigerian, Haitian, Jamaican, and Trinidadian and Tobagonian ancestry in the United States is relatively small yet rapidly growing (Table 1).1 For example, in 2000, there were 737,000 people with Jamaican ancestry compared with about 1 million estimated in the 2008–2012 American Community Survey (ACS). The population reporting Ethiopian ancestry more than doubled in size from 87,000 in 2000 to an estimated 195,000 based on the 2008–2012 ACS. Moreover, they are not all foreign born. The 2008–2012 ACS estimated that almost three-quarters of the population reporting Ethiopian ancestry (72 percent) was foreign born, but that was highest among all the selected ancestry groups (Figure 7). The proportion that was foreign born among the population reporting Nigerian, Haitian, Jamaican, and Trinidadian and Tobagonian ancestry was lower (about 60 percent). Although the growth of these populations is beginning to attract the attention of researchers, studies of these ancestry groups, which include immigrants and their descendants, are still relatively rare.2, 3, 4, 5

1 Note that these are the largest sub-Saharan African and Caribbean ancestry groups with estimated total populations of at least 150,000 at the national level in the 2008–2012 ACS 5-year estimates. Spanish-speaking Caribbean ancestry groups were not included.

How Ancestry Is Determined

The American Community Survey includes an ancestry question that asks each individual his or her “ancestry or ethnic origin.” From the responses collected, the U.S. Census Bureau considers anyone who reported being Ethiopian, Nigerian, Haitian, Jamaican, and Trinidadian and Tobagonian (including, Trinidadian or Tobagonian responses) to be of each respective ancestry group.

The Census Bureau defines ancestry as the ethnic origin, descent, roots, heritage, or place of birth of the person or of the person’s ancestors. Ancestry is a broad concept. The ancestry question is not intended to measure the degree of attachment to a particular group, but simply to establish the ethnic group(s) with which the respondent self-identifies.

Largest Sub-Saharan African or Caribbean Ancestry Group

The report focuses on the population reporting Ethiopian, Nigerian, Haitian, Jamaican, and Trinidadian and Tobagonian ancestry groups in the United States. These selected sub-Saharan African and Caribbean ancestry groups each had 150,000 or more total population in the 2008–2012 American Community Survey. The report does not include Spanish-speaking Caribbean ancestry groups.

Table 1.
The Population Reporting Selected Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean Ancestry:
1980 to 2008–2012
(Numbers in thousands. Data based on sample. For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/acs/www)
Population group1 Census ACS Change 1980 to
2008–2012
1980 1990 2000 2008–2012 Number Percent
Total U.S. population . . . . . . . . . . . 226,546 248,710 281,422 309,139 82,593 36
Ethiopian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 35 87 195 187 2,453
Nigerian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 92 165 263 215 449
Haitian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 290 548 868 777 862
Jamaican . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 435 737 998 744 294
Trinidadian and Tobagonian . . . . . . 44 76 165 196 153 348

1 Selected sub-Saharan African and Caribbean ancestry groups of 150,000 or more total population in the 2008–2012 American Community Survey.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 1980 Census, 1990 Census, 2000 Census, and 2008–2012 American Community Survey, 5-year estimates.

 

2 Angela B. Buchanan, Nora G. Albert, and Daniel Beaulieu, “The Population With Haitian Ancestry in the United States: 2009,” American Community Survey Briefs, ACSBR/09-18, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, 2014.

3 Christine P. Gambino, Edward N. Trevelyan, and John Thomas Fitzwater, “The Foreign-Born Population From Africa: 2008–2012,” American Community Survey Briefs, ACSBR/12-16, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, 2014.

4 Migration Policy Institute, Select Diaspora Populations in the United States—Ethiopian; Haitian; Nigerian, Washington, DC, 2014, accessed August 26, 2014, <http://migrationpolicy.org/research/select-diaspora-populations-united-states>.

5 Randy Capps, Kristen McCabe, and Michael Fix, Diverse Streams: Black African Migration to the United States, Migration Policy Institute, Washington, DC, 2012.