[Note: these population data record the children born to immigrants
as part of the natural change rather than part of the increase from immigration.]

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION
The increase in the foreign-born population since 2000 would put it in mid-2007 at about 688,240 residents, i.e., 13.4 percent of the overall population. This was a 7-year increase of 62.7 percent in the foreign-born population compared to an increase of 20.2 percent in the native-born population.

Immigration also contributes to population growth through the children born to immigrants in this country. Nationally the share of births to the foreign-born is about double their share of the population. A 26.8 percent share of the metro area’s current births is large enough to account for about 72,940 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may be adding as many as 98,600 persons to the metro area’s population annually, i.e., more than seven-tenths (71%) of  the metro area’s overall population increase.

The 2000 Census recorded 423,105 foreign-born residents in the Atlanta metro area. That was a 10.3 percent share of the overall population, which was a higher share than for the state (7.1%). The 2000 data showed an increase of 264.2 percent in the immigrant population since 1990, which compared with a 29.7 percent increase in the native-born population (which includes children born to immigrants) over the same period. That meant that immigration accounted directly for 26.6 percent of the overall population increase of the metro area.

In 2000, the Census recorded that more than three-fifths (60.6%) of the metro area's foreign-born population had entered since 1990. This was slightly higher than the rate for the state overall (59.7%). Less than one-third (28.9%) of the foreign-born residents had become naturalized U.S. citizens. That was a slightly lower rate than for the state overall (29.3%).

Another indicator of the impact of the foreign-born population may be seen in data on residents who speak a language other than English at home. In the metro area in 2000, the share of other-than-English speakers at home (age 5 and older) was 13.3 percent. More than half (50.9%) of those persons admitted to speaking English less than very well.

In 1990, the foreign-born share of Atlanta metro area population was 3.7 percent, or 113,335 foreign-born residents. With 45.7% of the state's population, the Atlanta metro area over two-thirds (67%) of the state's total foreign-born population.

IMMIGRANT STOCK
In 2000, the Census Bureau estimated the Atlanta MSA immigrant stock (immigrants plus their children) at 338,000. This was about a one percent increase from the 1997 estimate, and an 8.1 percent share of the metro area's population.

The Census Bureau estimated the size of the immigrant stock at 335,000 in 1997. This represented a 9.2 percent share of the area's population (3,627,200 in 1997).

CPS DATA ON SOURCES OF POPULATION CHANGE
Based on the 1997 CPS, the Census Bureau estimated the foreign-born population of the Atlanta area at 171,000. That amounted to a foreign-born population share of 4.7 percent.

According to the 1999 CPS, Atlanta's metropolitan area population (3,857,100) increased by over 897,600 (30.3%) since 1990. Of that increase, more than 82,000 was due to net immigrant settlement (the foreign-born population has risen 54,800 or 47.2% since 1990). There was also a large net migration of residents from elsewhere to Atlanta and natural increase (births-deaths). As a result, slightly over nine percent of Atlanta's population increase was directly due to new immigrant settlement.

LEGAL IMMIGRATION
A study released by the Center for Immigration Studies in October 2001 indicated that there were 64,191 legal immigrants who indicated that they intended to settle in the Atlanta metropolitan area between FY'91-'98. This number did not include persons granted legal immigrant status as a result of the 1986 amnesty for illegal aliens. These data are partial, although they provide a close approximation of the order and magnitude of the new immigrant admissions during this period. (The overall total of immigrant admissions -- shown in the second table below -- increases to 76,985.)

Other countries that supplied more than 1,000 new immigrants during this period were: Iran (1,234), Jamaica (1,176), and Pakistan (1,110).

The 34 nationalities above represent almost four-fifths (78.4%) of all immigrant settlement and adjustment in the Atlanta metro area during this period. More than one-quarter (25.8%) of all immigrants since 1990 were from Vietnam or Mexico.

POPULATION INCREASE AND SPRAWL
A study published by NumbersUSA in 2001 that weighed sprawl factors in large metropolitan areas found that about two-thirds (63.5%) of an additional 701.7 square miles consumed by the Atlanta urban area between 1970-90 was attributable to increased population. Increased per capita land use was the other factor studied. The Atlanta urbanized area is roughly equivalent to the metropolitan statistical area but smaller (covering a population of 2,157,806 in 1990).

POPULATION PROJECTION 2025
The current rate of population increase from 2000-07, if continued, will result in a population in 2025 of 9,523,000 residents. The projected increase in the foreign-born population will account directly for 34.6 percent of that change, and the foreign-born share of the population in 2025 will be about 13.4 percent. The immigrant share of the population increase would be much greater if the U.S.-born children of immigrants were included with the arrival of new immigrants

FOREIGN STUDENTS
The 2002/03 annual report of the Institute of International Education (IIE) shows the following foreign student post-secondary enrolment in schools in the Atlanta metropolitan area: Agnes Scott C. - 46, Atlanta Metropolitan C. - 84, Art Institute of Atlanta - 94, DeVry Inst. of Technology - 68, Emory Univ. - 871, Georgia Inst. of Technology - 2,547, Georgia State U. - 1,677, Kennesaw State U. - 394, Life Univ. - 532, Morehouse C. - 166, Oglethorpe Univ. - 49, So. Polytech. State U. - 565.