page_title: Demographics of Alabama
section_title: Ancestry
hierarchical_section_title: Demographics of Alabama / Ancestry
caption_attribution_description: English: Largest self-identified ancestry groups in Alabama as of 2016. Represented by counties, map deals in both pluralities and majorities.
context_page_description: The 2010 census estimated Alabama's population at 4,802,740, an increase of 332,636 or 7.5% since 2000. This includes a natural increase of 87,818 and a net migration of 73,178 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 30,537 and migration within the country produced a net increase of 42,641.
  As of 2005 Alabama had only 800 foreign-born residents, of which an estimated 24,000 or 22.2% were undocumented immigrants.
  In 2006 Alabama had a larger percentage of tobacco smokers than the national average, with 23% of adults smoking.
  The racial makeup of the state and comparison to the prior census:
context_section_description: Historically, African Americans were brought to Alabama as slaves, in greatest numbers in the cotton-producing plantation region known as the Black Belt. This region remains predominantly African American, where many freedmen settled to work at agriculture after the Civil War. The northern part of the state, originally settled by small farmers with fewer slaves, is predominantly European American. The Port of Mobile, founded by the French and subsequently controlled by England, Spain, and the United States, has long had an ethnically diverse population. It has long served as an entry point for various groups settling in other parts of the state. Those citing "American" ancestry in Alabama are of overwhelmingly English extraction, however most English Americans identify simply as having American ancestry because their roots have been in North America for so long, in many cases since the early sixteen hundreds.  Demographers estimate that a minimum of 20–23% of people in Alabama are of predominantly English ancestry and state that the figure is probably much higher. In the 1980 census 1,139,976 people in Alabama cited that they were of English ancestry out of a total state population of 2,824,719 making them 41% of the state at the time and the largest ethnic group.  There are also many more people in Alabama of Scots-Irish origins than are self-reported. Many people in Alabama claim Irish ancestry because of the term "Scots-Irish", but most of the time in Alabama this term is used for those with Scottish roots, rather than Irish.
caption: Largest ancestry groups in Alabama by county
exif: {}