GLBL 221 Fall 2025: Home

This guide lists some sources that can be used to complete the Profile of an Immigrant Group assignment. If you are having trouble finding a particular data point, aspects of a group's migration history, or exemplars of media portrayal, please do not hesitate to reach out!

U.S. Census Bureau

• covers 2000-2021
• for data prior to 2000, see Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850 to 2000
• can search by nationality (not ethnicity), then examine data from American Community Survey (Place of Birth by Nativity and Citizenship Status, Period of Entry by Nativity and Citizenship Status, etc.)

Alternatives if Census website is inaccessible:

Department of Homeland Security Immigration Data and Statistics

• Yearbook of Immigration Statistics

  • covers 1996-2024 (partial 2024 data)
  • these are sets of tables
  • includes data on lawful permanent residents, temporary visitors (nonimmigrants), refugees and asylees, and naturalizations.
    • data points vary by foreign national type
  • includes data on immigration enforcement actions, including apprehensions, removals, and returns.

• Profiles of Naturalized Citizens

  • covers 2003-2023
  • can search by country of birth; data points include age ranges, sex, marital status, occupation (very broad categories), and leading U.S. states of permanent residence.
  • alternatively, can search by U.S. state, "core-based statistical area" or "metropolitan statistical area" and see the data points above as well as leading countries of birth.

• Profiles of Lawful Permanent Residents

  • covers 2003-2023
  • can search by country of birth; data points include age ranges, sex, marital statues, occupation (very broad categories), broad class of admission, and leading U.S. states of residence.
  • alternatively, can search by U.S. state, "core-based statistical area" or "metropolitan statistical area" and see the data points above as well as leading countries of birth.

• Refugees and Asylees

  • covers 1997 and 2004-2024
  • these are brief reports with tabular data and summaries of trends and characteristics of refugees.

• Unauthorized Immigrant Population Estimates

  • covers 1990-2000 and 2005-2012
  • these are brief reports that contain tabulated data and explanation of methodology.

Migration Policy Institute

• their data comes from U.S. Census and American Community Survey, but may be packaged in a more user-friendly way.

For data from a specific European country, you may need to look at that country's statistics agency. Note that, depending on country in question, the information may not be available in English. Some general resources on European statistics are:

• Eurostat Migration and Asylum

• European Parliament Think Tank

  • Data comes from Eurostat above, but may be packaged in a more user-friendly way.

• United Nations Population Division

• UNHCR Global Trends

WorldBank Data

• aggregates data from other sources

Finding English-language research articles on immigrant population and migration history is not very different from finding articles on any other topic in the humanities and social sciences. Start with your favorite aggregator:

Depending on the particular demographic or socio-economic characteristics that you are investigating, you may also want to consult a discipline-specific database, e.g. in anthropology, education, public health, sociology etc. Start here:

• E-Research by Discipline

The Library provides access to a variety of current and historical national-level and local newspapers from the United States and other countries.

National U.S. newspapers:

Local U.S. newspapers:

Historical U.S. newspapers:

See also this Guide to ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

More news sources and historical newspapers here: https://library.unc.edu/ --> E-Research by Discipline --> News