COUNTY POPULATION
The population of Rockland County was estimated by the Census Bureau at 292,916 residents as of July 2006. That was an increase of 0.7 percent from a year earlier and 2.9 percent above the 2000 Census.

Net international migration data understate the impact of immigration, because the children born to immigrants after their arrival are recorded as domestic population change -- not part of the immigrant settlement data.

According to the 2006 Census Bureau estimate, Rockland County's population had increased since July 2000 despite a population loss from net domestic migration (an annual average of about 2,955 more native-born residents leaving than arriving). This was offset by natural change (an annual average of about 2,545 more births than deaths) and net international migration (an annual average of about 1,625 more foreign-born residents arriving than leaving). Therefore, immigration was the smallest component of population change, but it accounted directly for all of the County’s population increase.

The 2000 Census recorded 286,753 residents in the County. That was eight percent more people than the 265,475 residents in 1990. During the previous decade, the County's population increased by 2.3 percent from 259,530 in 1980.

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION
The 2000 census recorded 54,766 foreign-born residents in Rockland County. That was a 19.1 percent share of the overall population, which was lower than the 20.4 percent share for the state. The 2000 data showed an decrease of 41.3 percent in the immigrant population since 1990, which compared with a 2.3 percent increase in the native-born population (which includes children born to immigrants) over the same period. This meant that immigration accounted for 75.1 percent of the County's population increase.

In 2000, the Census recorded that more than one-third (34.7%) of the County's foreign-born population had entered since 1990. This was lower than the share for the state overall (40.4%). More than half (50.8%) of the foreign-born residents had become naturalized U.S. citizens. This was higher than the share for the state overall (46.1%).

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 County in 2000, the share of other-than-English speakers at home (age 5 and older) was 29.9 percent. More than two-fifths (41.5%) of those persons admitted to speaking English less than very well.

In 1990, the foreign-born population of the county was about 38,800 residents. This number of immigrants constituted a foreign-born population share of 14.6 percent of the county's overall population. By comparison, the foreign-born population shares of the country and the state in 1990, respectively, were 7.9 percent and 15.9 percent.

LEGAL IMMIGRATION
A study released by the Center for Immigration Studies in October 2001 indicated that there were 10,874 legal immigrants who indicated that they intended to settle in Rockland County between FY'91-'98. This number did not include persons granted legal immigrant status as a result of the 1986 amnesty for illegal aliens. The ten countries that supplied the largest number of these new immigrants are shown below.

POPULATION PROJECTION 2025
The current rate of population change between 1990-00, if continued, would result in a population in 2025 of 348,000. That is 21.4 percent more persons than the 2000 population.