COUNTY POPULATION
The population of Forsyth County was estimated by the Census Bureau at 332,335 residents as of July 2006. That was an increase of two percent from a year earlier and 8.6 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, Forsyth County's population had increased since July 2000 because of net domestic migration (an annual average of about 1,030 more native-born residents arriving that leaving), natural change (an annual average of about 1,825 more births than deaths) and net international migration (an annual average of about 1,500 more foreign-born residents arriving than leaving). Therefore, immigration was the second largest component of population change, and it accounted directly for more than one-third (36%) of the County’s population increase.
The 2000 Census recorded 306,067 residents in the County. That was 15.1 percent more people than the 265,878 residents in 1990. During the previous decade, the County's population increased by 9.1 percent from 243,683 in 1980.
FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION
In 2000, the foreign-born population of Forsyth County was 19,836 residents. This number of immigrants constituted a foreign-born population share of 6.5 percent of the County's overall population. By comparison, the foreign-born population shares of the country and the state in 2000, respectively, were 11.1 percent and 5.3 percent.
The 2000 data showed an increase of 515 percent in the immigrant population since 1990, which compared with a 9.6 percent increase in the native-born population (which includes children born to immigrants) over the same period. This meant that immigration accounted directly for 37.4 percent of the County's population increase.
In 2000, the Census recorded that nearly two-thirds (65.7) of the County's foreign-born population had entered since 1990. This was higher than the share for the state overall (62.4%). Less than one-fifth (19.9%) of the foreign-born residents had become naturalized U.S. citizens. This was lower than the share for the state overall (26.2%).
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 9.2 percent. More than half (57.9%) of those persons admitted to speaking English less than very well.
In 1990, the foreign-born population of the County was about 4,655 residents. This number of immigrants constituted a foreign-born population share of 1.8 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 1.7 percent.
LEGAL IMMIGRATION
A study released by the Center for Immigration Studies in October 2001 indicated that there were 1,647 legal immigrants who indicated that they intended to settle in Forsyth 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.
