This area chart depicts the changes in the geographic origins of different groups of Texas inhabitants from 1850 to 2000. Native-born Texans - those born and living in the state at each census - make up the biggest share of the population since statehood. Since 1850 the proportion of native-born residents rose to a peak of almost 79 percent of the total population in 1940, a proportion that has fallen steadily since then. Although census data for Texas for the period before statehood does not exist, the native-born population originally was quite small. The Spanish regime in Mexico actively encouraged in-migration from the United States and elsewhere. After 1940 in-migration from other states and other countries rapidly swelled the number of Texans not born in the state.