Haitians Represent 15 Percent Of The U.S. Black Population

A recent report dated April 9, 2015, on The Washington Post reveals that a record 3.8 million foreign-born blacks now live in the United States. The share of the black population, largely from Africa and Caribbean has grown up to 8.7% in 2013 from 3.1% of 1980. Out of that, the share of the Haitian immigrant population was 1.5% in 2014 and the number of the total Haitian immigrant population was computed at 606,000 in 2012.

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At the earlier time, the immigrant population was very small, estimated at approximately 5,000 in 1960. The number started rising when they began arriving in large numbers following the collapse of the Duvalier dictatorship in the late 1980s. An estimate hints that by 2060, 16.5% of the U.S population will be foreign born. The tendency to concentrate with such population has been more in cities that already had higher numbers of black populations. In Miami, 34% of its black community was born elsewhere. Such figure is 28% in the case of New York metro. The influx of immigrants has started since 2000. Most of the 40 million U.S blacks have roots in Africa and many of their ancestors were brought in as slaves during the 18th century, and by the end of that century, the number of blacks was nearly 20% of total U.S population. Haitian immigrant population in the U.S, is the 4th largest immigrant group from the Caribbean, following Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. The higher number of Haitian immigrants can also be found in France (77,000), Canada (74,000) and Bahamas (40,000). As per the Center for Immigration Studies, 2008, the top states of Haitian immigrant settlement in the U.S are: Florida (251,963; 46%), New York (135,836; 25%) New Jersey (43,316; 8%), Massachusetts (36,779; 7%), Georgia (13,287; 2%), and Maryland (11,266; 2%). There are 310,000 U.S.-born Americans who have at least one parent born in Haiti.

William H. Frey, a demographer and senior fellow from the Metropolitan Policy Program of Brookings Institution has said that these new foreign immigrants (he estimates at 10% of total black population) should not be mixed with the U. S. born blacks of several generations. They do not merely differ in languages; many important socioeconomic aspects separate them from the native U.S blacks. The black immigrants tend to be older, more like to have a higher education and higher income and they are less likely to live in poverty. About 46% of the Haitian immigrant households use at least one major welfare program. The rate is 20% for American native households.

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