Washington: The Asian American population grew almost 37 per cent over the past decade, even as the US overall experienced a slowdown in growth, according to new data released by the Census Bureau. The Bureau has not released disaggregated data for Asian American sub-ethnicities, including Indian Americans. Nicholas Jones, director and senior advisor of Race and Ethnic Research and Outreach at the Census Bureau, said that disaggregated data for several ethnic groups is expected to be released in late September.
“The US population is much more ethnically diverse than what we have measured in the past.” he said. More than 24 million Asian Americans reside in the US, not including those who identified as multi-racial. California alone is home to more than six million Asian Americans, a 25 per cent jump over 2010 data.
About 4.6 million Indian Americans reside in the US, according to American Community Survey data released last year. The overall US population now stands at 331.4 million, an increase of 22.7 million, despite the slowdown in percentage of growth from previous Censuses.
The US Census is taken once every 10 years, and aims to count every resident in the US, regardless of immigration status. The 2020 Census had a couple of major hurdles: attempting to collect data during the Covid-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders; and an attempt to add a question about citizenship to the nine-question form, which civil rights advocates fought against, fearing it would deter immigrants from filling out their Census forms.
Census data is used to allocate billions of dollars of funds to states to shore up infrastructure, public health, housing, and a myriad of public services. Cities and counties use the data to determine where to place new schools, transportation, hospitals, and other services.
The data collected by the Census determine the number of seats each state has in the US House of Representatives and is also used for redistricting: adjusting or redrawing electoral districts based on where populations have increased or decreased.
“These data, with their rich demographic characteristics, play an important role in our democracy,” said Ron Jarmin, acting director for the Census Bureau. He noted that the pandemic “significantly delayed our ability to process data in a timely manner, but we are confident that the data is accurate.”