Chapter 3: Science & Engineering Indicators 93

Regions of Origin

Most of the S& E immigrants admitted in 1992 were born in the Far East, primarily India (3,600), China (3,100), and Taiwan (2,400). Also, Poland, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union, Hong Kong, Iran, and Canada each accounted for at least 500 of the scientists and engineers who immigrated to the United States in 1992. (See appendix table 3-18.)

The annual number of S& E immigrants admitted to the United States during the 1980s ranged between 9,500 and 13,000. During the 1970s and 1980s, there was only minor, gradual shifting in the shares of immigrants from various regions of the world. The proportions of immigrants born in Western Europe, the Near and Middle East, and the Western Hemisphere rose slightly; while the proportion born in the Far East declined from 52 percent in 1976 to about 43 percent in 1990. (See figure 3-15.)

After 1990, however, there were some dramatic changes in the proportions of S& E immigrants from the various world regions:

The share of S& E immigrants from countries in the Far East increased from 43 percent in 1990 to 55 percent in 1992.
The proportion from Central and Eastern Europe increased from 12 percent in 1990 to 18 percent in 1991, but then dropped back down to 12 percent in 1992. The 1991 increase was caused by an unprecedented number--1,561--of scientists and engineers emigrating from the former Soviet Union. (See text table 3-6).
The share of S& E immigration represented by each of the other regions--Western Europe, the Near and Middle East, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere--fell during the 1990s.

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