PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In part one of a series the Pew Charitable Trusts is conducting on immigration in Philadelphia, researchers found immigrants moving to Philadelphia from other parts of the country are contributing to the city’s overall population growth.
Data shows that a majority of foreign-born Philadelphians identify as either as Latino or Asian, while white and Black populations are shrinking.
But according to Thomas Ginsberg, senior officer at Pew Charitable Trusts, most foreign born residents in Philadelphia aren’t coming directly from other countries, but other U.S. cities.
“That says something about the affordability. The economics they’re facing. Family ties… the networks that are here that are making this a choice for them,” he said.
When it comes down to country, China still leads the way, but immigrants from the Dominican Republic are also rising fast among the city’s Latino population. The Latino population as a whole has roughly doubled in the city over the last 20 years.
Ginsberg said the impact of immigrants was and continues to be widely felt.
“Immigrants fueled the city’s net growth in the past two or three decades. They recently minimized a decline in the population. And we have projections in here that they could be driving a growth in the future,” he said.
More data about the city’s immigrant population will be published this Summer.
“It’s not necessarily important for next year or for the second year from now, but it will be important to decades from now. It defines who we are,” said Ginsberg.