It can be hard to wrap our heads around the complexity that is South Asian America. We are refugees and model minorities, third generation Americans and people without papers. Thankfully, the good people at AAPIData do the number-crunching to help us make sense of ourselves. You can learn more on the AAPIData website, or use AAPIData Community Facts to get summaries for Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Nepalese.
1. We’re approaching 5 million people
According to the 2016 American Community Survey, there are 4.6 million people who list an origin solely in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Nepal. Add to that about 60,000 people with origins in Sri Lanka or Bhutan (either alone, or in combination with other nationalities), as well as general population growth, and the current total is likely over 4.7 million. [2016 source, 2015 source]
2. Two-thirds of us are foreign-born
According to the 2015 American Community Survey, 69 percent of people of South Asian nationalities are foreign-born. This ranges from a low of 66 percent of Pakistanis (as of the 2016 ACS data), to a high of 91 percent of Bhutanese (per the 2015 ACS data). [2015 source, 2016 source]
3. Half a million of us, over 1 in 10, are undocumented
According to the Center for Migration Studies’s 2015 estimates, there are at least 508,000 undocumented people of Indian or Pakistan origin. (This number is likely somewhat higher, given that it excludes the roughly 10 percent of South Asians who are neither Indian or Pakistanis.) [source]
4. Over 80 percent of us voted for Clinton
The National Asian American Survey offers detailed breakdowns of the Asian American vote for Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi Americans. Bangladeshis voted 90 percent for Clinton, Pakistanis 88 percent for Clinton, and Indians 77 percent for Clinton. [source]
5. A quarter of us have limited English proficiency
As of the 2006–2010 American Community Survey, 23 percent of people from South Asian nationalities had limited English proficiency. This ranged from a low of 21 percent of Indians, to a high of 70 percent of Bhutanese. (These numbers may have changed in the past eight years.) [source]
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