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Washington: Some 3.2
million Indian Americans, including Asian Indians of mixed race,
lived in the United States in 2010 as South Asians led all Asian
groups in population growth in the last decade. They led all Asian
American households with highest media household income.
At 3,183,063, Indian American made up 18 percent of the Asian
American population in 2010, up from 16 percent in 2000, according
to a new compilation of 2010 census data.
According to 2007 to 2009 data, Indian Americans led all Asian
American groups in the country in median household income at
$86,660. The next highest total was $77,596 for Taiwanese
households.
Taiwanese and Indians also led in per capita income among Asian
American groups, with $38,312 and $36,533, respectively, followed
by Malaysians ($33,264) and Sri Lankans ($32,480).
Bangladeshi Americans had the biggest percentage increase over the
decade, skyrocketing 157 percent, according to the study, "A
Community of Contrasts: Asian Americans in the United States,
2011," by the Asian Pacific American Legal Centre and the Asian
American Justice Centre.
The Pakistani population had the second highest population bump
with a 100 percent rise. The Sri Lankan and Indian American
populations increased 85 percent and 68 percent, respectively.
Among the South Asian groups, Pakistanis had the highest rate of
naturalization at 57 percent, while just 50 percent of Bangladeshi
Americans, 47 percent of Indian Americans and 43 percent of Sri
Lankan Americans were naturalised.
About 200,000 Indian legal permanent residents were eligible to
become citizens in 2008.
The leading six Asian countries for immigrant visas issued from
2001-2010 were: Philippines, 350,694; China, 286,008; India,
267,403; Vietnam, 193,049; Bangladesh, 84,643; Pakistan, 69,202.
The report estimated that in 2010 there were about one million
undocumented immigrants from Asia in the US About 280,000 were
from the Philippines, 200,000 from India, 170,000 from Korea and
130,000 from China. India's total was down from an estimate of
over 275,000 in 2005.
From 2005-09, Hindi speakers in the US were estimated at 527,481.
Numbers of speakers of other South Asian languages were: Urdu,
326,310; Gujarati, 304,102; Punjabi, 209,835; Bengali, 188,452;
Telugu, 171,015; Tamil, 132,573; Malayalam, 116,486; Marathi,
53,436; Kannada, 37,377; Nepali, 37,240; and Sinhalese, 22,336.
Only 22 percent of Indian Americans five years of age and older
from 2007-09 were limited English proficient, compared to 46
percent for Bangladeshis and 28 percent for Pakistanis.
Taiwanese and Indian Americans led all Asian groups in higher
educational attainment, with 73 percent to 68 percent,
respectively, having a bachelor's degree or higher.
The percentage of Indian Americans living in poverty was 8 percent
in the 2007-09 time period.
Both Indians and Pakistanis in the US had 9 percent of the seniors
ages 64 or above living in poverty. In the Bangladeshi community
that figure was 16 percent.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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