Source

WASHINGTON, U.S.A., December 20, 2004: Indian Americans, often labelled the “model minority” with the highest levels of education and high income levels, are living up to their name, according to the latest statistics released by the US Census Bureau. The Census Bureau report titled, “We the People: Asians in the United States 2000” says there are 1.65 million Americans purely of Indian origin and 1.86 million when including some mixed parentage in the US. (HPI note: It’s never been clear to us if these figures include people of Indian origin from Trinidad or Guyana, for example.) The report shows that as a whole, Asians do pretty well for themselves and are among the top rung in the ladder of success. But it is a diverse group that has many sub-groups not doing so well. Indian American men had the highest year-round, full-time median earnings ($51,900), followed by Japanese, with earnings of $50,900. Not to be ignored, however, was the fact that more than nine percent of Indian Americans were at the poverty level.



The data shows a majority of Indians in this country came after 1990 (54 percent), and nearly 82 percent came after 1980. According to data provided, in 2000, Indians had the highest percentage holding a bachelor’s degree, about 64 percent. While 90 percent of Americans are natives, only about 31 percent of Asians can be similarly classified. In 2000, 69 percent of all Asians were foreign born, with Indian Americans gong as high as 75 percent foreign born. Even though nearly 55 percent of Indian Americans were citizens, this meant 45 percent of them were non-citizens, a concern many Indian American community leaders have voiced. They maintain that to exert political clout to match economic prowess, more Indians should move to become citizens.

Post Views: 586