Immigrants are more religious than overall U.S. population

The world’s 280 million immigrants have greater shares of Christians, Muslims and Jews than the general population, according to a new Pew Research Center study.

“You see migrants coming to places like the United States, Canada, different places through Western Europe, and being more religious — and sometimes more Christian in particular — than the native-born people in those countries,” said Achsah Callahan, the study’s lead researcher.

Source: Pew Research.

Although Christians make up about 30 percent of the world’s population, the world’s migrants are 47 percent Christian, according to the latest data collected in 2020.

The study found that Muslims make up 29 percent of the migrant population but 25 percent of the world’s population. Jews, only 0.2 percent of the world’s population but 1 percent of migrants, are by far the most likely religious group to have migrated, with 20 percent of Jews worldwide living outside their country of birth, compared to just 6 percent of Christians and 4 percent of Muslims. Four percent of migrants are Buddhist, matching the general population, and 5 percent are Hindu, compared to 15 percent of the world population.

Over the past 30 years, migration has outpaced global population growth by 83 percent, according to Pew. Although people immigrate for many reasons, including economic opportunity, to reunite with family and to flee violence or persecution, religion and migration are often closely connected, the report finds.

The majority of the world’s Christian migrants originate from Mexico and settle in the United States, Pew found. They typically are looking for jobs, improved safety or to reunite with family members. Meanwhile, 10 percent of the world’s Muslim migrants (8.1 million) were born in Syria, fleeing regional conflict after a war broke out in 2011.

The report attributes high rates of Jewish migration partly to Israel’s Law of Return, which grants Jews the right to receive automatic citizenship and make “aliyah,” a move to Israel.

In fact, Jews make up just .02 percent of the world’s population but represent one percent of total immigration, higher than any other religion.

As of 2020, about 1.5 million Jews born outside of Israel now live within the country’s borders. Jewish migrants to Israel often come from former Soviet republics, such as Ukraine (170,000) and Russia (150,000). The United States has the second-highest population of Jewish migrants (400,000), with a quarter moving from Israel.

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice