COUNTY POPULATION
The population of Union County was estimated by the Census Bureau at 531,088 residents as of July 2006. That was a decrease of 0.1 percent from a year earlier but 1.6 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, Union County's population had increased since July 2000 despite a population loss from net domestic migration (an annual average of about 6,170 more native-born residents leaving than arriving). This was offset by natural change (an annual average of about 3,085 more births than deaths) and net international migration (an annual average of about 4,705 more foreign-born residents arriving than leaving). Therefore, immigration was the second largest component of population change, and it accounted directly for all of the County’s population increase.

The 2000 Census recorded 522,541 residents in the County, a 5.8 percent increase from the 493,819 residents in 1990. During the previous decade the population fell by two percent from 504,094 in 1980.

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION
The 2000 census recorded 130,916 foreign-born residents in Union County. That was a 25.1 percent share of the overall population, which was higher than the 17.5 percent share for the state. The 2000 data showed an increase of 44.3 percent in the immigrant population since 1990, which compared with a 2.8 percent decrease in the native-born population (which includes children born to immigrants) over the same period. This meant that immigration accounted for all of the County's population increase.

In 2000, the Census recorded that nearly two-fifths (39.6%) of the County's foreign-born population had entered since 1990. This was slightly lower than the share for the state overall (41.6%). More than two-fifths (44.9%) of the foreign-born residents had become naturalized U.S. citizens. This was also slightly lower than the rate for the state overall (46.2%).

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 35.2 percent. More than two-fifths (47.2%) of those persons admitted to speaking English less than very well.

The foreign-born population of the metro area in 1990 was 90,735 residents (9.4% of the state's total immigrant population). This number of immigrants ranked Union County 44^th in the country. It also constituted a foreign-born population share of 18.4 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 12.5 percent.

LEGAL IMMIGRATION
A study released by the Center for Immigration Studies in October 2001 indicated that there were 28,769 legal immigrants who indicated that they intended to settle in Union 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 602,000. That is 15.2 percent more persons than the 2000 population.