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Year
2000 United States Census
There are 1,678,765
Indian Americans in the USA
Since 1990-2000 the overall
growth rate for Indian Americans was 105.87%
This is the
largest growth in the Asian American community, the average
annual growth rate was 7.6%
Indian Americans represent .6
percent of the United States population with 1,678,765
Asian Americans 10,242,998 in
number constitute 3.6 percent of the United States population.
Indian Americans comprise 16.4%
of the Asian American population.
Indian Americans are the 3rd
largest constituency in the Asian American community after
the Chinese American community, and the Filipino American
community
The Asian American community grew
at a rate of 48.26% from 1990-2000
* The total population of the
United States is 281,421,906
The
Indian American community in the United States is over a
million and a half strong, but this large number has grown from small
beginnings and an expansion of immigration within the last
thirty years.
The
first Indian immigrant entered the United States in 1790
as a maritime worker, as part of the early commerce connections
between India and the U.S. After that, the next noticeable
groups of Indians came to the west- coast of the United States,
in the state of Washington, entering from Canada. These early
twentieth century immigrants were largely agricultural workers.
In the early 1920s only about five thousand Indians resided in
the Unites States.
At the time
Indians were denied citizenship and the right to own land in
many states. After World War 11, the U.S. desire for more
professionals, particularly doctors, engineers, and
entrepreneurs, facilitated the immigration of Indians. In 1946,
the Indian Citizenship Bill, co-sponsored in a bipartisan effort
of Congressmen Emmanuel Celler and Clare Booth Luce, legalized
the ability of Indian immigrants to seek naturalization and
granted India a token quota of one hundred immigrants annually.
When the
Immigration Act of 1965 lifted immigrant quotas that had been in
place for more than fifty years, the entry of Indians into the
United States increased during the late 1960s and ‘70s.1
In 1960, estimates showed only five thousand Indians in the
United States, but by 1970, this population had grown to
approximately three hundred and fifty thousand. The 1990 U.S.
Census records the number of Indian-Americans at 815, 447, and
between the 1980 and 1990 Census, the annual growth rate of the
community was 8.5 percent.
According to the estimate
of the Population Reference Bureau, the Indian American
population has grown by 103% in 1980-90, a growth rate second
only to the Chinese among Asian American ethnic groups, and by
55% in 1990-97, second only to the Vietnamese. As a result the
Indian American population numbered 1.215m in 1997, making it
the third largest Asian American ethnic group in the US, after
the Chinese and the Filipino Americans, outstripping the
Japanese. Certainly, the Indian American community in the United
States has experienced a remarkable transformation from its
modest beginnings.
The U.S. Census bureau defines
Indian-Americans as "Asian Indians." When households
fill out the census they define themselves as Asian Indians, a
sub-category of the Asian or Pacific Islander group People who
choose to write in more specific categories, such as Gujarati or
Sikh, are still classified as Asian Indians. People are
classified as Asian Indians if they are of Asian Indian origin
or if they are of Asian Indian race, or if they are foreign born
people from India.
The United States Census Bureau estimates
that the national census count of 1990 differed from the true
population by less than two percent, which means that their
statistics about the size of the Indian American population are
quite accurate. Using this margin of error, the Indian American
community in 1990 would, at its highest count be approximately
831,755 people. This means that perhaps, with the highest
estimates, around 15,000 Indian-Americans were left out of the
census. In estimating this undercount, the Census Bureau uses
birth and death records, immigration records and previous
censuses to estimate the true population. It also conducts
special surveys by taking scientific samples of census blocks
and re-interviewing them independently of the census enumeration
to determine accuracy. It is, however, difficult to accurately
estimate the undercount of Indian-Americans because adequate
records on this segment of the population have not existed for a
long period of time.
The Census Bureau margin of error,
an estimated 15,000 uncounted Indian-Americans, is consistent
with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Services
estimate that the number of undocumented resident immigrants
from India in October 1988 was around 15,000. Furthermore,
according to INS estimates, the number of undocumented
Indian-American immigrants in 1992 had grown to about 28,000.
Most of these undocumented Indian immigrations are people who
were supposed to visit the United States only for a specific
period of time, but then decided to remain indefinitely. The
largest portion of these immigrants reside in the states of
California, New York, New Jersey, Texas, Florida and Illinois in
that order.
The 1990 U.S. Census published some
revealing information about the Indian American community.
* Indians have attained a high level of education.
Eighty-five
percent of them have at least graduated from high school, and
fifty-eight percent of them have received a bachelor's degree or
higher. This is an impressive level of higher education,
especially when compared with the twenty percent of the total
population who hold a bachelor's degree or higher. High levels
of education have enabled Indian Americans to become a
productive segment of the population, with 72.3% participating
in the work force, and an even higher 84% of men doing so. Of
these labor force participants, 43.6% are employed in managerial
and professional specialties. Technical, sales, and
administrative support occupations constitute another 33.2% of
the labor force, and the remaining 23.3% of the population works
in other areas, such as operators, fabricators, laborers and
precision production. Higher labor participation rates have also
led to a higher per capita income of $17,777.00 for this
community, as compared with a national per capita income of
$14,143.00 The mean earnings of Indian-American households in
1989 was $56,438.6In contrast, the poverty rate for
Indian-Americans is only 9.7 percent, lower than the national
average 13 percent. Considering the size of the population and
income figures, it is estimated that the annual buying power of
Indian-Americans in the United States is around twenty billion
dollars annually7 . The average Indian-American
family has 3.83 people, and 89.2 percent of this population is
married-couple families. To extrapolate, this indicates the
importance of family-centered life for the Indian-American
community, as most Indian families consist of a husband, wife
and their two children.8
Not only is the Indian American Community
strong in its numbers, facts and figures, but more importantly
in the successful endeavors it has ventured to undertake over a
spectrum. Large Indian-American communities exist in every state
in the nation, the five largest in California, Texas, New York,
New Jersey and Illinois, with populations of over 60,000. The
Washington D. C. metropolitan area has a community of over
50,000 people.9 Moreover, Asian Indians are the
largest of Asian American ethnic groups in New Jersey, the
second largest after the Chinese Americans in New York and
Maryland, and after Filipinos in Illinois, and the third largest
after Vietnamese and Chinese in Texas. The Indian American
community has strength and unity, as is illustrated by the over
1,000 Indian-American organizations across the country. These
organizations engage in a wide range of activities, from
cultural festivals and civic work to political activism. Not
simply separate groups, many of them belong to larger, unifying
umbrella organizations, such as the National Federation of
Indian-American Associations (NFIA), the American Indian
Associations (AIA), and the Indian American Forum for Political
Education (IAFPE), which enables them to pursue their interests
in a more cohesive and effective manner.
In their occupations, Indian-Americans
have attained a high degree of professionalism. They are most
prevalent in the fields of science and technology.
Indian-Americans are also very involved in academia. Over five
thousand Indian-American faculty members are teaching at various
universities around the nation.10 Indian-Americans
have also become successful entrepreneurs, and many of the
hotels and motels in the United States are owned by Indian
Americans. These entrepreneurs have established an organization,
the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, (AAHOA) to further
their business goals through contact and cooperation with
others. AAHOA has over four thousand members, and together these
people own over fifty percent of the economy in the lodging
sector, with approximately 640,000 rooms. In all, they own
around 12,500 hotels, with a total market value of their
properties estimated at $31b.11 Furthermore, 30,000
Indian-American medical doctors are practicing in the United
States today.12 The first Indian to graduate from a
medical school in the United States was a woman, Anandibai
Joshee, who graduated from the Women's Medical College,
Pennsylvania on March 11, 1886. These physicians have organized
themselves through the American Association of Physicians from
India (AAPI), a powerful grouping that enables them to better
promote their interests, and have opened up a full time
legislative office in Washington, D. C. on December 13. 1995.
AAPI is particularly concerned with the future of
Indian-American physicians and Indian medical health management
organizations, where they may face subtle discrimination. AAPI's
effort is reportedly the first of any Indian-American
organization to set up a legislative office in Washington, D.C.13
Second generation Indian-Americans born in
the United States have demonstrated a strong commitment to
pursuing higher education. Of the 16,873 U.S. born
Indian-Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four,
14,776 have graduated at least from high school. Furthermore,
10,965 of them have received a college education.14
With approximately sixty-five percent of this age group having
attained some college education, clearly young Indian-Americans
in the United States, following the example set by their
parents, are interested in bettering themselves and securing a
comfortable position for themselves in the community. Moreover,
this new generation of Indian-Americans is pursuing more diverse
professional interests. While Indian-Americans have
traditionally felt most comfortable entering fields of science
and technology these young people are now more aggressively
pursuing careers in the social sciences and liberal arts, as
well as the traditional sciences. As Indian-Americans branch out
into different occupational fields, this diversity will only
enhance the strength of the community.
In addition to being a great professional
force in many realms, Indian-Americans have also become a strong
voting force in the United States. According to the 1990 U.S.
Census, of the 593,423 foreign-born Indian-Americans, 34.3% of
them have been naturalized. Along with the other 212,021 United
States born Indian-Americans who are already U.S. citizens, the
Indian-American community comprises a formidable voting force.
Certainly, these numbers have increased a great deal in the past
six years, as more Indian-American have chosen to undergo the
naturalization process, and their voting power is growing15
. Moreover, by the year 2000, it is projected that there will be
around two million Indian-Americans in the United States, making
them an even more formidable voting force16 .
More voting power has also led
Indian-Americans to become increasingly involved in the
political system of the United States. Indian-Americans have
traditionally exercised the most political influence through
their campaign contributions, and are actively involved in
fundraising efforts for political candidates on the federal,
state and local levels. In recent years, they have begun taking
a more direct role in politics, as well as continuing to help
through their financial contributions. Perhaps the highest
profile effort to play a direct role in politics is by Kumar
Barve, a US born Indian American, a Delegate for several terms
in the Maryland assembly. Several Indian-Americans have held the
position of mayor. Examples are Bala K. Srinivas in Hollywood
Park, Texas, John Abraham in Teaneck, New Jersey, and Arun
Jhaveri in Burien, Washington. Like these leaders, more and more
Indian-Americans have the courage, ambition and resources to
pursue election for public office17. Indian-Americans
have also been appointed to various levels of government by the
Clinton Administration. Indian-Americans are working at all
levels of the political spectrum, and their efforts,
particularly in grassroots movements, are growing.
The Indian American community is rapidly
emerging as a political force and also helping to promote a
better understanding of the policies followed by the Government
of India. As a result of these activities, together with the
growing commercial interest in investment in India, the India
caucus in the House of Representatives now numbers 112. US
Congressmen have been enthusiastic participants in functions
celebrating 50 years of India’s freedom.
The leading Indian American political
grouping is the Indian American Forum for Political Education,
an umbrella organization for the majority of political activists
in every State. Their annual Congressional lunch held every year
on Capitol Hill, was best attended on May 15, 1997 with Senator
Helms as Chief Guest.
The cohesion of the community has
continued to grow. Although internal differences within
community organizations continue to subsist, as they do between
organizations, the community was able to get together to
celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Independence on
August 15, 1997, in Washington DC, with a gala banquet attended
by community representatives from across the country,
representative of all sections, religious and regional, of
Indian Americans. The Banquet was graced by the presence of the
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Secretary of State
Albright and the Secretary Commerce Bill Daley among a number of
distinguished guests. A specially recorded video message from
the President Bill Clinton was projected on the occasion.
Reports of well attended celebrations of
the 50th Anniversary, organized by Indian American
organizations, poured in from across the US. Community leaders
helped secure India Day Proclamations in several cities, by
Mayors and many States, by Governors. The best attended of such
events was perhaps at Detroit IL, attended by 18,000.
Statewise breakup will be made available
in the comings weeks.
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