More Christian migrants have resettled in the United States and Canada than any other religious group over the past three decades, according to a new analysis by an American think tank.
A Pew Research Center study released on Monday found that 7 in 10 international migrants living in the U.S. or Canada identify as Christian, a category that includes Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, Restorationism, and the Church of the East.
The Christian immigrant population grew from 72.7 million in 1990 to 130.9 million in 2020.
The 59 million total immigrants who have resettled in the two North American countries make up 16% of their combined populations. Pew did not include Mexico in the North American figures.
Nearly 51 million of that figure live in the U.S. and the remaining 8 million in Canada. Thirty-five million Christian immigrants live in the U.S.
The U.S. was the top destination for migrants in Mexico through the years. Christian immigrants in the U.S. were most likely to have arrived from Mexico than any other country.
Since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, nearly 10 million immigrants have been encountered at the U.S. border, and more than half of that figure were released into the U.S. and face court proceedings.
Latin American countries, where Christianity is the most common religion, have made up the majority of immigrants encountered at the southern border.
Although Christians make up just 30% of the world’s population, they comprised 47% of all migrants. By contrast, people who were not affiliated with any religion made up 13% of resettled migrants globally but a larger percentage as a religious group: 23%.
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The Pew analysis pulled from United Nations data and 270 U.S. censuses and surveys.
Roughly 3.6% of the global population, or more than 280 million people, have migrated and live outside their country of birth.