The nation’s Asian population rose to 11.9 million by 2000 and then nearly doubled to 22.4 million by 2019 – an 88% increase within two decades. By 1960, the first time census respondents could choose their own race, 980,000 individuals self-identified as Asian. In the 1870 census, roughly 63,000 individuals were classified as Asian by U.S.
Asian population is projected to reach 46 million by 2060.
For example, an individual identifying as “Chinese and Filipino” would be included in the totals for all Chinese and all Filipinos.Īll data was collected before the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, there is some overlap in the numbers for the individual Asian groups because people with origins in more than one group are counted in each group to which they belong. Population estimates for specific Asian groups include mixed-race and mixed-Asian group populations, regardless of Hispanic origin. Population projection figures are from the Census Bureau’s 2017 population projections. Additional data on population estimates were obtained from the Census Bureau’s 2012 report, “ The Asian Population: 2010” (20) and tables available through Census Bureau data. The ACS is used to present demographic and economic characteristics for each group. Census Bureau’s 2017-2019 American Community Survey’s public-use files obtained from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS). The main source used is a three-year dataset constructed from the U.S. This analysis and the accompanying fact sheets about the Asian population in the United States combine the latest data available from multiple sources.