'ASIAN POPULATION FASTEST GROWING RACE IN THE LAST DECADE,
NEW U.S. CENSUS FIGURES SHOW
March 30. 2011, WASHINGTON – The nation’s Asian population became the fastest growing race over the
past decade, experiencing a 43 percent increase from 2000 to 2010, according to newly released figures
from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Asian population grew from 10.2 million in 2000 to 14.7 million in 2010, gaining the most in the share of
the total population, growing from 4 percent to about 5 percent over the last decade.
White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders director Kiran Ahuja noted the importance
of understanding the needs of this growing population.
“We must come together and understand what these changes in our country’s demographics mean for
public policy,” said Ahuja. “We see increasing numbers of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
representing influential positions, but many pockets of this community are in great need of basic
protections and services.”
According to the Census Bureau, most people in the 2010 Census reported only one race. Of these
individuals, about 14.7 million people – or about 5 percent of all respondents – identified their race as
Asian alone. The smallest major race group was Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone (0.5
million), which represented 0.2 percent of the total population.
# # #
**NOTE: For more information details about the Census data, please visit http://www.census.gov. For more
information on the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, please go to http://www.
aapi.gov. **
NEW U.S. CENSUS FIGURES SHOW
March 30. 2011, WASHINGTON – The nation’s Asian population became the fastest growing race over the
past decade, experiencing a 43 percent increase from 2000 to 2010, according to newly released figures
from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Asian population grew from 10.2 million in 2000 to 14.7 million in 2010, gaining the most in the share of
the total population, growing from 4 percent to about 5 percent over the last decade.
White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders director Kiran Ahuja noted the importance
of understanding the needs of this growing population.
“We must come together and understand what these changes in our country’s demographics mean for
public policy,” said Ahuja. “We see increasing numbers of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
representing influential positions, but many pockets of this community are in great need of basic
protections and services.”
According to the Census Bureau, most people in the 2010 Census reported only one race. Of these
individuals, about 14.7 million people – or about 5 percent of all respondents – identified their race as
Asian alone. The smallest major race group was Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone (0.5
million), which represented 0.2 percent of the total population.
# # #
**NOTE: For more information details about the Census data, please visit http://www.census.gov. For more
information on the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, please go to http://www.
aapi.gov. **