Subscribe
Sign in
Two Centuries of U.S. Immigration — Visualizing who immigrated to the U.S. between 1820 and 2013
45
Replies
Yea, that was absolutely mesmerizing and very educational. If you look over it carefully, you will notice a lot of knowledge bombs, like after the 1936, immigration to US seems to calm down dramatically for a couple of years, i wonder why...... ;)
@dilyaraskar Thanks! There is a good reason for that. After WWI there was a big influx of immigration, so in the 20's the government began limiting it with immigration quotas. The quotas were repealed in the 1960's, which is when the immigration picks back up.
Love this! Seriously cool stuff. Would be so interesting to see migration from the US as well at the same time. Sometimes a map like this can make people think they are inundated with migrants, when actually a lot of people are moving around.
@alicelthwaite You're right. Despite all the recent talk about Mexican immigration, the net immigration flow with Mexico is actually negative now. When you add up all legal migration, illegal migration, and deportations in both directions, there are more people leaving the U.S. for Mexico than the other way around.
It would have been great to include outbound migration in the map, but unfortunately the U.S. does not track it and the estimates I've been able to find don't go back very far.
Nice! I was curious about the challenges of visualizing migrations from Asia jumping off the right edge and reappearing on the left edge towards the United States. There are world maps where the center is set as the Americas instead of the GMT line – would love your thoughts on that approach!
Great job @galka_max! I think it would be really interesting to see a data visualization of not only immigration to the U.S. but world wide. Also, where are you pulling your immigration data from?
@jonathanzwhite Thanks. The data comes from the Department of Immigration Statistics. It is explained in more detail here: http://metrocosm.com/animated-im...
@galka_max Great work. Was a bit surprised, especially based on how we discuss immigration in the news today.
@galka_max this is cool. It would be interesting to see the same animation, but of people leaving the US over the same time period. I assume more people come than go?
@davekang Yes, I agree. I've spent a lot of time looking for that data, but the U.S. does not track it. The best estimates I've found go back only a few decades. Still some interesting trends though. Here is the best work I've found on the topic, great series of posts: https://medium.com/migration-iss...
@charles_kunene Thanks. What about it surprised you? The message it conveys? The lack thereof?
@galka_max The current political debate on immigration is centered around people from countries that are predominantly Muslim or Hispanic speaking nations - without acknowledging that those countries only account for a small amount, historically, of immigration to the U.S. This part of the current political climate really frustrates me. I'd be interested to hear if your figures are based on only 'legal' immigration or factor in both legal and illegal immigrants?
Great to see this, a clear trend of more immigrations from Asia in past 2-3 decades.
Woah, how did I miss this?! It's so freakin' cool. Thanks for the find, @rrhoover! 🙌
pro tip #1 It's a silent visualization, but you can enhance the experience by playing some music. I personally was playing 'No More' by Sizzle Bird. Other songs: 'Home We'll Go' by Walk Off the Earth. (reply with your your songs!)
pro tip #2 If there's a country that's particularly meaningful to you, you should play it and specifically pay attention to that country and surrounding areas. For me, it was Vietnam. cc @huongtdt
@gabrielpetrolio That's exactly what I find so cool about data visualization. You've probably already seen it, but if not, you should check out some of the videos by Hans Rosling -- it will be the most entertaining and educational 20 minutes you'll spend all week :)
https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_r...
Interesting visual. Virtually no " immigration" from Africa until 1960. Def doesn't replace good old studying.
Very nice! Maybe the next step would be to add a more sophisticated timeline, like mentioning major events in history, e.g. World War 1 and 2, etc.
@oliviachang292 Yes. The stories behind each immigration wave is the part I find most interesting. I didn't go into it in the map, but I did in this post.
http://metrocosm.com/where-new-y...
When you hover over the graphic, it shows some of the major events that have impacted each country's immigration to the U.S.
Product Hunt