By Gabriel Lesser and Jeanne Batalova
Over the past several years, Central American migration to the United States has been the focal point of significant media and public policy attention, as the number of unaccompanied children and families fleeing gang violence and poverty has risen dramatically. In 2015, approximately 3.4 million Central Americans resided in the United States, representing 8 percent of the 43.3 million U.S. immigrants. Eighty-five percent of Central Americans in the United States were from the Northern Triangle, formed by El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
However, large-scale Central American migration is not a new phenomenon. Civil wars, political instability, and economic hardship first drove significant numbers of Central Americans northward in the 1980s, when the population from that region living in the United States more than tripled. Despite the end of political conflicts in the early 1990s, additional migration was driven by family unification, natural disasters, and persistent political and economic volatility, with many individuals entering illegally. Following a series of natural disasters in the region, Salvadorans, Hondurans, and Nicaraguans became eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), offering provisional protection against deportation and eligibility for work authorization. TPS has been renewed for Honduras and Nicaragua until January 2018, and El Salvador until March 2018.
The region continues to suffer from poor political and socioeconomic conditions, including some of the world’s highest homicide rates and widespread gang violence, which drive ongoing migration. A growing number of unaccompanied children and families from Central America have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border since 2011, largely from the Northern Triangle. In fiscal year (FY) 2016 alone, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intercepted nearly 46,900 unaccompanied children and more than 70,400 family units from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras accounted for almost 90 percent of the total growth in the population since 1980. Other Central American groups showed more moderate increases over the past 35 years.
Click here for an interactive chart showing changes in the number of immigrants from Central America in the United States over time. Select individual countries from the dropdown menu.
In 2015, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras were the top three origin countries in Central America, followed by Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, and Belize (see Table 1).
The majority of Central Americans who have obtained lawful permanent residence in the United States (also known as receiving a green card) did so through family reunification channels. Compared to the overall foreign- and U.S.-born populations, Central Americans on average were significantly less educated, but more likely to be employed. Although Central American countries share similar cultural and linguistic backgrounds, socioeconomic characteristics vary significantly by origin country. Due to the large share of individuals from the Northern Triangle, the indicators for Central American immigrants overall are biased toward immigrants from those three countries.
Of the 4.1 million international migrants from Central America worldwide, the vast majority (78 percent) resided in the United States, according to mid-2015 estimates by the United Nations Population Division. Another 15 percent were scattered within the region, including in Mexico, while the remainder resided in Canada and Europe. However, international settlement patterns vary by country of origin. For instance, more than 80 percent of migrants from Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras settled in the United States, compared to just 40 percent of Nicaraguans (47 percent live in Costa Rica).
Click here to view an interactive map showing where migrants from Central America (and elsewhere) have settled worldwide.