The Regional Demographics of the Elderly Foreign-Born and Native-Born Populations in the United States Since 1950

Abstract

This article is an examination of the influence of birthplace on the internal migration and spatial redistribution patterns of elderly foreign-born and native-born populations in the United States during 1950 to 1990. Using data drawn largely from the U.S. Census Bureau’s published and unpublished records and from various Public Use Micro-data Sample (PUMS) files of the Censuses of Population, the authors consider the following questions: (1) What have been the regional age compositions and geographies of U.S. elderly foreign-born and native-born populations over the past several decades? (2) What have been the demographic sources of growth that shaped those age compositions and geographies? (3) What have been the interregional migration patterns of elderly foreign-born populations, and how have they differed from those of elderly native-born populations? (4) Are recent interregional migration patterns of foreign-born and native-born elderly persons likely to generate increased or decreased regional concentrations of their respective populations?

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