Other Immigrant communities

Other Immigrant Communities

Nigerian Americans are citizens of the United States of America who are or descend from immigrants from Nigeria. Since the late 1960s and early 1970s, approximately one million Nigerians have immigrated in to the United States. Similar to their proportion of population on the continent of Africa, Nigerians are the single largest contemporary African immigrant group in the United States. Nigeria's official current indigenous population is 140 million. It is estimated that 20 million people of Nigerian descent reside outside Nigeria, with the majority living in the United Kingdom and the United States. The 2006 American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau stated that 37% of Nigerians in the United States had bachelor's degrees, 17% had master's degrees, and 4% had doctorates. Many modern Nigerian immigrants have come to the United States to pursue educational opportunities in undergraduate and post-graduate institutions. Almost all of these immigrants have come from ethnic groups in the southern part of the country, primarily the Igbo, Yoruba, and Ibibio peoples, including Annang and Efik. Due to adverse economic conditions in Nigeria, some immigrants stayed in the United States and began to raise their children there.
Areas of concentrated residence:
1. Maryland: Prince Georges and Baltimore (Not Including Baltimore City) counties comprise the 3rd largest Nigerian American community; also Howard and Montgomery counties.
2. New York: All boroughs of New York City, the 2nd largest Nigerian-American community; plus Nassau and Westchester counties.
3. Texas: Harris (esp. the city of Houston), Fort Bend, Tarrant, Dallas, and Travis counties (which makes up the city of Austin); having the largest Nigerian American community.
4. Georgia: Cobb, Dekalb, Fulton, Gwinnett counties; the Atlanta area is the 5th largest Nigerian-American community.
5. New Jersey: Hudson, Essex, Bergen, Union and Middlesex counties, with a large proportion of Nigerians living in Newark. In recent years, many Nigerian Americans have left New Jersey.