Which countries of birth account for the largest shares of naturalized U.S. citizens?
This fact-check may be outdated. Consider refreshing it to get the most current information.
Executive summary
In fiscal year (FY) 2024, the largest shares of naturalized U.S. citizens came from Mexico, India, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, and Vietnam — together representing roughly one-third of all new citizens — with Mexico alone accounting for about 13% of naturalizations (USCIS) [1]. In total USCIS recorded roughly 818,500 naturalizations in FY2024, anchoring these country-level shares in a large annual flow of new citizens [2] [3].
1. Mexico leads the pack, by share and by history
Mexico was the single largest country of birth for people naturalizing in FY2024, contributing roughly 13.1% of all naturalizations and more than 100,000 new citizens — a pattern consistent with long-standing migration and family‑reunification ties across the southern border (USCIS; DHS reporting) [1] [4] [2]. USCIS and multiple secondary reports give Mexico the top spot in 2024, and the agency notes Mexican-born naturalized citizens often have longer median times as lawful permanent residents before naturalizing, which shapes annual flows [1] [5].
2. South and East Asia are significant single-country contributors
India and the Philippines rank second and third by share: India accounted for about 6.1% of FY2024 naturalizations and the Philippines about 5.0% (USCIS) [1]. These shares reflect long-running employment‑based migration streams, family ties, and sizeable communities of lawful permanent residents eligible to naturalize; DHS and USCIS flow data for 2023 and 2024 corroborate high absolute counts for these countries [4] [2].
3. Caribbean and Southeast Asian origins round out the top five
The Dominican Republic and Vietnam were the fourth- and fifth-largest countries of birth among new citizens in FY2024, with shares around 4.9% and 4.1% respectively, completing a top-five group that made up about 33% of new citizens (USCIS) [1] [2]. Migration Policy Center analysis for adjacent years shows similar regional concentration — in FY2023 Cuba appeared among the top origins alongside the Dominican Republic — underscoring year‑to‑year shifts at the margins even as the core set of origin countries remains stable [6].
4. Numbers, methodology, and small discrepancies in secondary reporting
USCIS’ FY2024 statistics report approximately 818,500 naturalizations overall and list country shares as percentages; DHS/Office of Homeland Security Statistics reporting for 2023 and law‑firm summaries echo the same top countries and similar counts [2] [4] [7]. Some secondary outlets and analyses round totals differently (e.g., a legal blog giving Mexico roughly 107,700 naturalizations or 13.2%), but they draw from the same USCIS/DHS source material and do not change the ranking of top origins [8] [5].
5. Important context and caveats readers should note
These figures describe who naturalized in a given fiscal year, not the entire stock of foreign‑born U.S. citizens or immigrants eligible to naturalize; median years spent as lawful permanent residents before naturalization vary by country (USCIS reports a 7.5‑year median overall and longer median waits for some countries) and can skew annual flows [1]. Separate streams like military naturalizations highlight different country profiles — for example, service-member naturalizations have their own top origins (Philippines, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Ghana) — which shows that subpopulations can diverge from civilian patterns [9]. Finally, data are reported on fiscal‑year bases and subject to small revisions and reporting choices, so precise counts may differ slightly across DHS/USCIS releases and media summaries [2] [3] [8].