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Child Health and Mortality

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Encyclopedia of Immigrant Health

Demographics

Nearly 3% of the world’s population migrates, with one out of three persons around the globe undergoing migration. Children of immigrants are the fastest growing group in the US population under 18 years of age, with one in five children the child of an immigrant. While immigrants are 11% of the US population, children of immigrants make up 22% of the 23.4 million children under 6 years of age. As of 2005, nearly one-fourth (23%) of children lived in an immigrant family. This explosive growth, combined with the large numbers (40%) originating from Mexico, and additional areas that include 10–11% each from the Caribbean, East Asia, or Europe combined with Canada and Australia; as well as 5–7% each from Central America, South America, Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, or West Asia); and 2–3% from Russia and Africa. As a group, immigrant children are changing the racial and ethnic composition of US children for the present and adults in the future. These children...

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Siantz, M.L.d.L. (2012). Child Health and Mortality. In: Loue, S., Sajatovic, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Immigrant Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5659-0_132

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5659-0_132

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

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