Population of the USA

The population of America is 243.4 million, made up of immigrants from almost every country in the world. The first people who lived in America were the American Indians. Today, about 1.5 million American Indians and Eskimos live in the USA.

Europe, the main source of US immigration, began sending colonists to America in the early 17th century. Immigration peaked in the period from 1880 to 1920, when tens of millions of immigrants entered the US.

Black Americans, who today number 29 million, were first brought to the New World as slaves in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. In the 20th century large numbers of blacks, who historically lived in the South, migrated to the industrial cities of the North in search of jobs and a better way of life.

Hispanics, living mostly in the Southwest, are the next largest ethnic minority group in the US.

The US population has also absorbed nearly 3.6 million Asians (from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam and Korea).

Today, 80% of the population lives in or near cities, and only 20% of the population live on farms.

The American people are united culturally by the English language and politically by a faith in democracy.