U.S.: green cards granted to Europeans by country 1820-2019

Throughout history, Europe has been the most common region of origin for lawful migration to the United States. However, European migration went into decline in the early-1900s, and the Americas has been the most common region of origin since the 1960s. Additionally, legal migration from Europe was overtaken by Asia in the 1970s and Africa in the 2010s.

Annual number of Europeans obtaining lawful permanent resident status in the United States from 1820 to 2019, by country of origin and decade

Characteristic	United Kingdom	Germany	Ireland	Italy	Austria & Hungary*	France	Greece	Norway**	Sweden**	Poland	Russia	Other Europe***
2010-2019	139,554	62,527	17,090	35,338	30,227	46,745	13,733	3,591	11,781	55,081	91,813	399,336
2000-2009	171,979	122,373	15,642	28,329	33,929	45,637	16,841	4,599	14,783	117,921	167,152	610,424
1990-1999	156,182	92,207	65,384	75,992	27,529	36,552	25,403	5,211	12,614	172,249	433,427	246,469
1980-1989	153,644	85,752	22,210	55,562	20,437	32,894	37,729	3,835	10,106	63,483	33,311	150,731
1970-1979	133,218	77,142	11,461	150,031	20,387	27,018	102,370	3,927	6,371	33,699	28,132	232,571
1960-1969	220,213	209,616	37,788	200,111	27,590	46,975	74,173	17,371	18,779	55,773	2,329	222,725
1950-1959	195,709	576,905	47,189	189,061	113,015	50,113	45,153	22,813	21,418	6,498	453	136,646
1940-1949	131,794	119,403	15,701	50,509	13,677	36,954	8,605	8,326	9,000	7,774	605	70,176
1930-1939	61,813	117,736	28,195	85,053	13,902	13,761	10,599	6,901	6,551	26,460	2,473	70,960
1920-1929	342,762	386,634	201,644	528,133	60,891	54,842	60,774	70,327	100,002	224,420	61,604	468,307
1910-1919	371,878	174,227	166,445	1,229,916	1,154,727	60,335	198,108	79,488	112,957	-	1,106,998	330,332
1900-1909	469,518	328,722	344,940	1,930,475	2,001,376	67,735	145,402	182,542	244,439	-	1,501,301	356,119
1890-1899	328,759	579,072	405,710	603,761	534,059	35,616	12,732	96,810	237,248	107,793	413,382	221,469
1880-1889	810,900	1,445,181	674,061	267,660	314,787	48,193	1,807	185,111	401,330	42,910	173,081	273,663
1870-1879	578,447	751,769	422,264	46,296	60,127	71,901	209	88,644	90,179	11,016	34,977	96,221
1860-1869	532,956	723,734	427,419	9,853	3,375	35,938	51	-	82,937	1,886	1,667	60,573
1850-1859	445,322	976,072	1,029,486	8,643	-	81,778	32	-	22,202	1,087	423	57,572
1840-1849	218,572	385,434	656,145	1,476	-	75,300	17	-	12,389	105	520	19,465
1830-1839	74,350	124,726	170,672	2,225	-	39,330	49	-	1,149	366	280	9,706
1820-1829	26,336	5,753	51,617	430	-	7,694	17	-	91	19	86	7,575

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Release date

January 2022

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Region

United States

Survey time period

1820 to 2019

Supplementary notes

*Refers to the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1919, and is the combined figure for Austria and Hungary thereafter.
**Sweden's figures include Norway from 1820-1869.
***Figures calculated by Statista - this includes the source's figures for "Other Europe", as well as individual entries for Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia.

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