the number of immigrants from africa and the caribbean has been increasing in recent years and they now account for almost ten per cent of the overall black population in the united states .
foreign-born blacks made up just 3.1 per cent of the black population in 1980 , but they accounted for 8.7 per cent of that group in 2013 .
about 50 per cent of the black immigrant population hail from the caribbean and 36 per cent come from africa .