South American Immigrants

Over the past seven decades, immigration to the United States from the countries of South America has increased dramatically. In 1960 South American immigrants made up about 1 percent of the total foreign-born population in the United States. By 2014 that share had increased to 7 percent of the nation's 42.4 million immigrants. Immigrants from South America are typically driven north by economic crises and political unrest in their own countries. South American Immigration surveys the recent history of the twelve nations that make up the world's fourth-largest continent, focusing particularly on the countries that have sent the largest number of immigrants to North America. It examines why these people have left their homelands, how they have adapted to and changed North American culture, and what the future might hold for them in the United States and Canada.