85
Conclusions
TheUnited States hosts the largest number of inter-
national migrants with 20% of the global total (over
200million according to iom). Currently, Latin Ame-
ricans in theUnited Statesmake up accounts for half
of the foreign-born population living in the country
(21.8 million people); 11.8 million born in Mexico.
The number of Mexican origin persons living in the
UnitedStates totals34.3million, including thoseborn
inMexicoand thedescendantsof earlierMexican im-
migrants. Their presence has important demographic
and social implications for the nation as well as for
theworld. TheMexicanoriginpopulation is an impor-
tant part of the workforce and helps to counter the
decrease in theworking age population in theUnited
States; they also contribute culturally and linguistica-
lly to the diversity of the country, which is one of the
most important assets of the nation.
This report analyzes, the trends of the past ten
years inMexican immigration to theUnitedStates, fo-
cusingon the key areas of health, wellbeing and social
integration.Thedataarepresented incomparisonwith
immigrants from Central America, immigrants from
other region, African-Americans and the non-Hispanic
whitepopulation todocument the relativeadvantages
and disadvantages they face. These areas have each
been covered for single years in previous reports for
this series on migration and health. This is the first
time trenddatahas been reportedacross the topics.
The past ten years have witnessed the in-
creasing dispersion of the Mexican origin population
throughout theUnitedStates.Mexican immigrantsare
still concentrated in urban geographic areas, particu-
larly instatesalong theUS-Mexicoborder, but theyare
increasinglymoving toother parts of the country. The
growth of the Mexican origin population in the US is
now less related to new immigration, this, due to a re-
duction of the flowof undocumented, and reliesmore
on thegrowthof a secondgenerationand subsequent.
Although some health indicators show slight im-
provement over the past decade, Mexican and Central
American immigrant populations are still among the
most vulnerable groups in the nation both socially and
economically. As in 2004, Mexican and Central Ameri-
can immigrants have the lowest rates of naturalization
of all immigrant groups. While poverty increased from
2004to2013amongallofthegroupsstudied inthis re-
port, Mexican immigrants show the greatest economic
deprivation. Inthe labormarket,Mexican immigrantsare
concentrated in the low-wage sectors, a distribution si-
milar to that of ten years ago. These are key indicators
for whichMexican immigrants have shown little impro-
vement over the past decade andwhich are intricately
linked to health in that the likelihood of having health
insurance coverageand seeking services is related to ci-
tizenship, employmentand income level.
In terms of access to health insurance, in 2013
as in2004,Mexican immigrants in theUSdidnothave
adequate health care insurance or access to care. Fif-
ty-two percent of Mexican immigrants in the US did
not have health insurance in2013, and although they
represent 4% of the US population, they accounted
for 13% of the uninsured population. Though this re-
presents an improvement since2007, this is probably
the result of a decline in the undocumented popula-
tion rather than improvement in coverage rates of do-
cumented immigrants. The
Affordable Care Act
will
significantly increase affordable health insurance and
access to services for eligible immigrants starting in
