Washington: The Asian Americans recorded the fastest population growth rate among all racial and ethnic groups in the United States between 2000 and 2019. The Asian population in the US grew 81 per cent during that span, from roughly 10.5 million to a record 18.9 million, according to the Pew Research Center analysis of US Census Bureau population estimates, the last before 2020 census figures are released.
The research center adds in its news release that by 2060 the number of US Asians is projected to rise to 35.8 million, more than triple their 2000 population. Hispanics saw the second-fastest population growth between 2000 and 2019, followed by Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders at 70 per cent and 61 per cent, respectively. The nation’s Black population also grew during this period, albeit at a slower rate of 20 per cent. There was virtually no change in the White population, the research found.
The growth of the Asian American population in the US comes amid reports of discrimination and violence against this group since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, according to the release. In a Pew Research Center survey conducted in early March 2021 – before the fatal shooting of six Asian women and two other people in the Atlanta area on March 16 – 87 percent of Asian Americans said there is a lot of or some discrimination against them in society, according to the release.
In a June 2020 survey, 31 per cent of Asians reported they had been the subject of slurs or jokes since the Covid-19 outbreak began, and 26 per cent said they had feared someone might threaten or physically attack them because of their race or ethnicity, Pew noted, adding that Asian adults in both surveys were interviewed in English only.
The average annual growth rate of the Asian American population has slowed since 2000. From 2000 to 2005, it grew by an average of 3.9 per cent per year. It dropped to 3.1 per cent per year between 2005 and 2010; remained at that level between 2010 and 2015; and then fell to 2.4 per cent per year between 2015 and 2019, the release added.
Despite the slowdown, the US Asian population has still had one of the highest growth rates of any major racial and ethnic group in most years since 2000. The report adds that the Asian American population has increased in every state and the District of Columbia over the past two decades.
California had an Asian population of roughly 5.9 million in 2019, by far the nation’s largest. It was followed by New York (1.7 million), Texas (1.5 million), New Jersey (870,000) and Illinois (732,000). A majority of US Asians (56 per cent) live in these five states, the report continued.
