North Dakota's Number of Foreign-Born People May Be Declining

NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

December 3, 1998

North Dakota's Number of Foreign-Born People May Be Declining

The number of foreign-born persons residing in North Dakota declined by slightly more than one-third from 1980 to 1990, dropping from 14,818 to 9,388, according to a recent Population Bulletin released from the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University. However, what has been happening since 1990 remains an open question because more current data are unavailable.

As a result, the demographic reality in some North Dakota counties could be quite different now, says Richard Rathge, data center director. In fact it's quite likely that the foreign-born populations in both Cass and Burleigh counties have grown since 1990.

Based on 1990 census figures, Cass and Oliver counties were the only two counties to show an increase during the decade of the 1980s.

In 1990, foreign-born persons comprised only 1.5 percent of the state's total population, 2.6 percent of foreign-born persons were younger than 18, and nearly 40 percent were not citizens. And, nearly one-third of all foreign-born persons in North Dakota had immigrated before 1950.

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Source: Richard Rathge (701) 231-8621

Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136

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