# Wow! That's a lot of them thar furriners! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 10, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-lot-of-them-thar-furriners/200732 "2003-09-10T12:41:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-lot-of-them-thar-furriners/200732/1 "2003-09-10T12:41:50Z")
This is really amazing. I just saw [this article](http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/censusstatistic/a/foreignborn.htm) about a new Census report. According to the report, there are 33 million foreign-born people living in the US; or about 11% of the total US population. That’s nearly the entire population of Canada! I’ve always been proud of and fascinated by the cultural diversity in America (especially living in NYC) but I had no idea we had this many immigrants these days. If I had to guess, I would have said the number was probably closer to 10 million. Anyway, I thought it was interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-lot-of-them-thar-furriners/200732/2 "2003-09-10T13:27:17Z")
This is why it really steams me when people make comparisons between other countries and the United States. The US has a very big immigrant population, and a LOT of diversity. There are a lot of issues that come up with such a diverse and large population. I too find it fascinating that the United States has such a large population, both numbers-wise and diversity wise. I can be in a classroom of 30 people, and those 30 people all were born in a different country. That’s pretty interesting. In Elementary school, when we had a project on ethnic origins, everybody had a unique project because there were not two children with similar ethnic origins in the whole class! ---
**Author:** ![bayonet1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bayonet1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bayonet1976)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-lot-of-them-thar-furriners/200732/3 "2003-09-10T13:56:24Z")
The reason your estimate was lower than the actual number probably has to do with the fact that for every foreign born person you meet there is a whole truckload of foreign born relatives you didn’t meet. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-lot-of-them-thar-furriners/200732/4 "2003-09-10T14:27:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Incubus \* > This is why it really steams me when people make comparisons between other countries and the United States. The US has a very big immigrant population, and a LOT of diversity. Well for just that same comparison, in the 2001 census 4.2 million or 23% of Australians [were born overseas](http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs%40.nsf/94713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/d9b2f953462e2c41ca256d39001bc332!OpenDocument) . 40% of Australians were born overseas or have a parent who was born overseas. You were saying? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![FP\_work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/85e7bf/32.png) [@FP\_work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FP_work)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-lot-of-them-thar-furriners/200732/5 "2003-09-10T14:44:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > \*\* > I’ve always been proud of and fascinated by the cultural diversity in America (especially living in NYC) but I had no idea we had this many immigrants these days. If I had to guess, I would have said the number was probably closer to 10 million. > \*\* If _I_ had to guess, I’d say it was closer to 500 million. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-lot-of-them-thar-furriners/200732/6 "2003-09-10T16:04:56Z")
Recent stats indicate that 41% of the population of L.A. is foreign born. Not children of immigrants. Not members of ESL households. But new immigrants.