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Immigrants are more likely to have college degrees than U.S. citizens
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A Pew Research Center report indicated U.S. immigrants are more likely to have a college degree but less likely to have a high school diploma than American citizens, making them a "bifurcated" group, according to Slate. - photo by Payton Davis
U.S. immigrants are an ever-changing group, and a recent report shows that now they're the most educated they've ever been, according to the Pew Research Center.

Pew's report indicated the rate of newly arrived immigrants 25 and older who at least graduated high school jumped from 50 percent in 1970 to 77 percent in 2013. Immigrants holding bachelor's degrees also surged from 20 percent to 41 percent in the same period.

The most striking takeaway of Pew's research is that of U.S.-born citizens 25 and older, 30 percent earned bachelor's degrees 11 percentage points fewer than recent immigrants, according to Slate.

Improved education among Latin Americans and an increase in the number of Asian immigrants likely contributed to this.

"... Asian immigrants are now the largest group of new arrivals, and are much more likely to have finished high school or college than Latin Americans, who dominated in the past," Jordan Weissmann reported for Slate. "But educational attainment has also been rising for immigrants from south of the border for instances, 13 percent of recent Mexican immigrants had a college degree in 2013, up from 6 percent in 2000."

According to A Plus, Pew's findings contrast with the opinions formed by some that immigrants lack education, an issue mentioned often in the lead-up to next year's presidential election.

Asians surpassing Latin Americans as the largest immigrant group in the U.S. by "the middle of the century" is also of note, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Immigrants are likely to make up 88 percent of the nation's population growth over the next 50 years, and by 2065, foreign-born people will make up 18 percent of the nation's population, compared with 5 percent in 1965, Kate Linthicum wrote for the Times.

And Asians should lead this surge.

"Asians are expected to constitute 36 percent of the immigrant population by 2055, surpassing Latinos, who by then will be 34 percent of immigrants ... ," according to Linthicum.
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