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Home > News > Immigrant Nation, American Success: Entrepreneurs and the Economy

Immigrant Nation, American Success: Entrepreneurs and the Economy

News | September 14, 2015
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Happy National Welcoming Week! Our final infographic falls during a weeklong celebration of immigrant contributions, and we can’t think of a better way to conclude our “Immigrant Nation, American Success” series.

In our last two infographics, we examined the ways immigrants elevate American research and innovation. In this final installation, we look at the extraordinarily high rates of entrepreneurship amongst the foreign-born, and its effect on the economy.

Despite accounting for only 13% of the general population, immigrants started 28% of all new U.S. businesses founded in 2011.

In fact, immigrants are more than twice as likely to establish businesses as native-born Americans are: In 2011, the immigrant business-formation rate was 550 new businesses per month for every 100,000 immigrants, while the native-born rate was 270 new businesses per month for every 100,000 native-born Americans.

This rate has increased by more than 50% since 1996, while the native-born business-startup rate has decreased by 10% over the same time period.

Companies with at least one immigrant co-founder have become some of the most well-known, groundbreaking names in business and technology today; they include Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Intel, Tesla Motors, and WhatsApp.

Download the graphic to learn more about immigrant contributions to the economy, and, as always, feel free to share, tweet, and post widely!

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