Among the 46.9 million black respondents in the latest US population census, more than a million identify as Jamaican.

The information is contained in the just-released 2020 US census, which includes what the US Census Bureau says is the most detailed race and ethnicity data to date.

The US Census Bureau says the 2020 census offers counts for about 1,550 racial, ethnic and tribal groups.

African Americans represent the largest number of blacks in the United States, with 24.5 million people selecting the ethnicity either alone or combined with another group when asked about their backgrounds.

Jamaicans account for the largest number of blacks with immigrant background, with 1,047,117 people saying they were Jamaican either alone or combined with another group. Haitians are a close second, with 1,032,737 respondents selecting that ethnic background alone or in any combination. Nigerians had the next highest responses, with more than 604,000 people, followed by Ethiopians at more than 325,000 people.

Africans are the fastest growing black immigrant group. According to the Pew Research Center, between 2000 and 2019, the black African immigrant population grew 246 per cent, from roughly 600,000 to two million.

The upshot is that people of African origin today make up 42 per cent of the overall foreign-born black population, a substantial increase from 2000 when that share was 23 per cent, according to the research centre.

Additional reporting by AP