Finnish North Americans today by statistics

Abstrakti

Statistics on the population of foreign origin living in North America are based on the Censuses of the United States and Canada. Before the 1980s, the Censuses of both countries distinguished the population of foreign origin by their own or their parent’s place of birth. This made it possible to track ethnic groups for two generations. The question on parental birthplace provided data only for people with one or both parents born outside the United States. The rest of the population was classed as natives of native parentage, not further distinguishable on the basis of their ethnicity.

In the 1980 US Census, the question on birthplace was dropped and replaced with a new question on “ancestry” making it possible to connect people to ethnic groups in the third generation and beyond (Brittingham & de la Cruz 2004). In Canada a similar change was made in the 1986 Census.