RAD Diaspora Profile: The Ethiopian Diaspora in the United States

July 24, 2014 (Migration Policy Institute) — The Rockefeller Foundation and the Aspen Institute have launched the Rockefeller-Aspen Diaspora Program (RAD), a joint venture to better understand diaspora members’ financial and human capital investments and to design an approach to foster further growth in these areas. The Migration Policy Institute has partnered with RAD to produce profiles of 15 diaspora communities in the United States, which is home to nearly 60 million first- or second-generation immigrants. 

These profiles address 15 different diaspora populations in the United States, gathering in one place key data and analysis on diasporas from Bangladesh, Colombia, El Salvador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, India, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Each profile explores the demographic characteristics of first- and second-generation immigrants in a particular diaspora, their educational attainment, household income, employment patterns, geographic distribution, and remittance volume.

Five longer profiles, focusing on Colombia, Egypt, India, Kenya, and the Philippines, also detail historical immigration pathways and contemporary entry trends, poverty status, active diaspora organizations, and country-of-origin policies and institutions related to interaction with emigrants and their descendants abroad. MPI

The Ethiopian Diaspora in the United States
There are roughly 255,000 Ethiopian immigrants and their children living in the United States. While the Ethiopian diaspora population has similar educational attainment as the U.S. population overall and is more likely to be in the labor force, diaspora members’ average household income is substantially lower. The United States is the top destination for Ethiopian emigrants and top source for remittances to Ethiopia.