Washington, Sep 15 (EFE).– The proportion of Hispanics in the United States who were born in other countries has dropped progressively over the past few years from 40 percent to 35 percent, according to a report released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.

The report by the Washington-based center shows that 64.1 percent of Hispanics in the United States have their roots in Mexico, but only 33 percent of that community were born south of the border, compared with 40 percent in the year 2000.

According to the Pew study based on figures from the U.S. Census, the greatest decline in the immigrant component is among Salvadorans, which dropped from 76 percent in 2000 to 59 percent in 2013.

U.S. residents with Venezuelan roots are those with the greatest percentage born abroad, with some 69 percent in 2013, followed by Peruvians with 65 percent, Guatemalans with 64 percent, and Hondurans with 63 percent.

As for citizenship, three out of every four Hispanics have that status, the majority of them – 65 percent – because they were born in this country, while 11 percent were naturalized.

Aside from Puerto Ricans, Spaniards have the highest incidence of U.S. citizenship with 93 percent, followed by Cubans with 76 percent and Mexicans with 75 percent.

The declining proportion of new immigrants in the Hispanic community is making English the dominant language among almost 54 percent of Hispanics who live in the United States.

Some 68 percent of Hispanics over the age of 5 say they only speak English at home or they speak English “very well.”

Nonetheless, among adults the percentages vary: 25 percent say that English is their first language, 38 percent say that Spanish is their preferred language, and 36 percent consider themselves bilingual.

Salvadorans constitute the community in which English is the least dominant, with only 37 percent of adults saying they prefer to speak English or that they consider themselves bilingual. EFE