Wilmington, NC Metro Area Immigration

Population

The Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) population 1 increased from 101,145 in 1970 to 251,949 in 2010. That was an increase of 149.1 percent.

The foreign-born (FB) population increased from 792 in 1970 to 12,288 in 2010. That was an increase of 1451.5 percent. The foreign-born share changed from 0.8 percent to 4.9 percent.

The share of the overall population that was native-born (NB) increased by 138.8 percent.

	Wilmington MSA: Population  1970-2010

Sources of Population Change

The primary sources of population change are:

Natural Change [Births minus Deaths or B-D];
Net Domestic Migration [NDM - movement between states]; and
Net International Migration [NIM - movement into and out of the country].
There is also a residual "other" amount that isn't placed in one of those three categories.

The first chart below shows the three population change factors for three periods adjusted for annual average amounts. In it, domestic migration (NDM) was the chief factor in adding population in all periods.

The second chart shows the same data but with an adjustment to reflect births to immigrants shifted to NIM. In it, NDM continued to be the main source of added population in all periods.

	Wilmington MSA: Sources of Population Change 1990-2014 		Wilmington MSA: Sources of Population Change (Adjusted) 1990-2014

		B-D	 NDM	 NIM						B-D	 NDM	  NIM	
	90-'99	16.4%	82.0%	 1.6%					90-'99	14.4%	82.0%	 3.5%
	00-'09	17.3%	76.0%	 6.7%					00-'09	13.5%	76.0%	10.5%
	10-'14	17.3%	75.7%	 7.0%					10-'14	11.6%	75.7%	12.7%

1/ New Hanover and Pender counties.

Links:

MSA Factsheets by state, and alphabetically.

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