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9/14/07 Hindustan Times: Asian-Americans cross the 10 million mark, 
By Pramit Pal Chaudhuri
    Asian-American immigrant population broke the 10 million barrier in the US for 
the first time, says data released by the US Census Bureau. These immigrants, 
especially those from India and China , are also the most highly educated in the country.
    Asians represent roughly one-fourth of the total 37.5 million immigrants in the US  
in 2006.
    Nearly half of Asian immigrants hold at least a bachelor's degree. Indian immigrants 
are among the best educated immigrant populations in the US , matched only by Japanese-Americans. According to the 2000 US Census, 64 per cent of Indian-
Americans held a college degree and 40 per cent held a master's or professional degree. 
    The percentage of native-born Americans holding a bachelor's degree is 27 per cent. 
Latin American immigrants, the largest migrant population, were the least educated. 
Only 11 per cent held a bachelor's degree. 
    Mark Mather of the Population Reference Bureau was quoted as saying, "Driving this 
are people coming from China and India . They are either coming with a bachelor's 
degree, or they are coming with visas and getting degrees once they arrive."
    Indians represent the largest foreign student population in the US . Massachusetts , 
helped by the concentration of educational institutions in Boston , was the state with the 
highest number of college-educated (37 per cent) adults.
    Jeanne Batalova of the Migration Policy Institute says this largely reflects the windows 
provided by US immigration law. Indians who migrated to the US in the late 19th century 
worked on farms and mines. When the US allowed employment-based visas in 1965 the 
door was opened for educated Indian migrants. "In the 1970s, as many as 90 per cent of Indian-Americans migrants had professional degrees. But their absolute numbers were 
small."
    A further shift happened when the US liberalised student visas and the software boom 
brought in tech workers in the 1990s. This again biased immigration in favour of educated 
Indians. But, says Batalova, a balance was provided in the increasing number by immigrants being sponsored by relatives already in the US . Though family reunification normally brings 
in people of the same class, it also leads to greater diversity in terms of educational levels. 
    Whether this represents a "brain drain" on developing countries is less of a debate than 
it once was. Says Vivek Wadhwa, an expert on immigrant entrepreneurship at Harvard  
University : "The sad thing here is that with US's flawed immigration policies, the country is 
driving away some of the best and brightest." He suspects Asian countries may be 
contributing more to the US in intellectual capital than they get in foreign aid. 
    The triple flow of students, skilled workers and relative sponsorship are determining the educational profile of Indian-Americans. The peak of educational attainment for the Indian-American community as a whole was the 1970s, but the present figure is likely to 
stay more or less the same in the coming years.  


9/6/07 www.mediabuyerplanner.com: "Hispanic, Asian, African-American TV Households 
Grow Faster than US Average,"
    Hispanics and Asians remain the fastest-growing national segments of the population, with television households increasing 4.4 percent among Hispanics and 3.9 percent among Asians compared with the previous year, according to The Nielsen Company, writes MarketingCharts.
    Nielsen estimates that in local markets
    Los Angeles remains the number-one Hispanic market, followed by New York , Miami , 
Houston and Chicago .
    Los Angeles also has the country's largest Asian community, followed by New York , San Francisco , Honolulu and Chicago .
    New York is the largest African-American TV market, followed by Atlanta , Chicago , 
Washington , DC and Philadelphia .
    National Changes Atlanta moved up from third to second in rank, due to a 6.3 percent increase in its Black or African-American TV household population.
    New Orleans climbed two ranks to 23, indicating the strong recovery of Black or African-American populations in the market.
    Other notable increases include Minneapolis-St. Paul's moving up two ranks, into the Top 50, and Syracuse 's moving up one rank, into the top 100. 
    Within the Hispanic household estimates, there was a change in the top 10 DMAs, with Phoenix moving up to rank eight. Nielsen said changes in the Hispanic market ranks reflect the emergence of new Hispanic gateway areas over previous historic immigration destinations; for example, as an indication of recent trends in Hispanic immigration, Charlotte moved up three ranks, to 40.
    Within the Asian household estimates, there was also a change in the top 10 DMAs, with Houston moving up to rank nine. Las Vegas moved up one rank, to 16, and New Orleans increased four ranks, to 47, a further indication of population recovery in that market.



8/30/07 Sacramento Bee: Latina and Asian American women live the longest, 
by Stephen Magagnini
    Maria Guzman, who celebrated her 82nd birthday last week with about 40 
relatives, is preparing for her next cruise -- to the Greek islands.
    Guzman, who lives by herself in Elk Grove when she's not touring the world, is 
one of the unsung heroines of a new study showing that Latinas and Asian 
American women live longer than anyone else in California .
    The state's 6.5 million Latinas enjoy an average life expectancy of 83, while 
the nearly 2.3 million Asian American females can expect to live past 85, 
according to the nonprofit Public Policy Institute of California. 
    Guzman, who loves to go to Europe and the Holy Land , attributes her healthy
life to "no bad habits such as drinking or smoking and ... a lot of home-cooked 
meals."
    She says she sticks to chicken, fish and vegetables, "and beans and tortillas
are my favorite food."
    Guzman, who was born in the town of San Juan De Los Lagos in Jalisco , 
Mexico , married at 17 and had 14 children. "We emigrated in 1966, when she
was 40," said daughter Alicia Guzman-Folster.
    California 's women live longer than men -- an average of 80.7 years 
compared with 75.9, with white women seeing 80.1 years and African 
American women 75. Asian American and Latino men live longer (80.4 
and 77.5, respectively) than white men (75.5 years) and black men (68.6),
according to the study released Wednesday.
    Asian women and Latinas -- especially immigrants -- have very low lung 
cancer death rates in particular, while African American males have very 
high lung cancer rates, said Dr. Bruce Leistikow, professor of public health
sciences at UC Davis.
    Aside from low smoke exposure, immigrants may tend to live longer 
because only healthy people can make it to the United States , said Leistikow.
    Helen Lee, who co-authored the study, agreed that survival of the fittest may
come in to play among immigrants.
    Lee said that the better educated you are, the longer you tend to live, and that
less-educated groups tend to smoke more, are more prone to obesity and often
get less access to health care.
    Asian American women smoke less, are less overweight and drink less than
any other ethnic group, Lee said.
    Latinas also smoke and drink less than other groups, though they're twice as
likely to be obese as white women, the study showed.
    Dr. Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, a Mexican immigrant who's director of the Center
for Reducing Health Disparities at UC Davis, wasn't surprised by the results, 
given the high percentage of immigrants among Latinos and Asian Americans.
    About a third of California 's 12 million Latinos are immigrants, and "it appears
that immigrants tend to have better health than the second and third generations,"
Aguilar-Gaxiola said.
    He calls it the "Latino paradox -- in spite of being poorer in general, and with
less education and fewer regular medical visits, Latinas tend to have better 
mortality rates than other groups. For example, Mexican women who immigrate 
to California tend to have good pregnancy outcomes in spite of the lack of 
prenatal care," Aguilar-Gaxiola said.
    "Poverty doesn't necessarily coincide with unhealthy lifestyles," he said. 
"There are cultural values and protective health behaviors that exist in immigrant
Latinos. The first generation tends to have better marriages, the families stay 
more intact. They tend to respect their elders; they don't place their parents in a 
home; they take care of their own."
    The same holds true for many Asian Americans, Aguilar-Gaxiola said.
    What's troubling, Lee said, is that African Americans haven't closed the 
mortality gap with other ethnic groups. She said the average African American
man in California can't expect to live as long as the average North Korean.
    "Black men in California are 10 times more likely to to die from homicide than
white men," Lee said.
    "Homicide is very correlated with living in racially segregated communities 
with a high poverty level and little opportunity for educational and economic 
mobility."
    Some other key findings:
    Latino men and women are twice as likely to die from diabetes as whites,
and black women are three times more likely to die of diabetes than white women.
    Death rates from heart disease are about 50 percent higher for black women
and 40 percent higher for black men than they are for whites.
    Asian men have slightly higher death rates from stroke and stomach cancer.
    Whites are more likely than other groups to die of Alzheimer's disease and 
suicide.

8/9/07 New York Times: Minorities Now Form Majority in One-Third of Most-
Populous Counties, 
By Sam Roberts 
    In a further sign of the United States growing diversity, nonwhites now make up 
a majority in almost one-third of the most-populous counties in the country and in 
nearly one in 10 of all 3,100 counties, according to an analysis of census results 
to be released today. 
    The shift reflects the growing dispersal of immigrants and the suburbanization 
of blacks and Hispanics pursuing jobs generated by whites moving to the fringes 
of metropolitan areas. 
    From July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2006, metropolitan Chicago edged out Honolulu  
in Asian population, and Washington inched ahead of El Paso in the number of 
Hispanic residents. In black population, Houston overtook Los Angeles .
    The new wave of immigration, along with its continued dispersal to the suburbs
and Sun Belt, is transforming the places which are now being classified as 
multiethnic and majority minority, said William H. Frey, a demographer with the 
Brookings Institution. 
    The new melting pots are not large international gateways, Professor Frey 
said, adding, Rather, many are fast-growing suburbs themselves.
    In 36 counties with more than 500,000 residents each, non-Hispanic whites 
are now a minority, up from 29 counties of that size in 2000. 
    From 2005 to 2006 alone, eight other mostly less-populous counties shifted 
to a majority of minorities, the Census Bureau said. They were Denver, Colo.; 
East Baton Rouge Parish, La.; Winkler, Waller and Wharton in Texas; Blaine, Mont.;
Colfax, N.M.; and Manassas Park, Va., an independent city that is considered the 
equivalent of a county. 
    In a new study for the Population Reference Bureau, Mark Mather and Kelvin 
Pollard found that Hispanic people were increasingly attracted to job opportunities
and lower costs outside major metropolitan areas. 
    Between 2000 and 2006, the total population in small towns and rural areas 
increased by 3 percent, but the Hispanic population in these counties grew from 
2.6 million to 3.2 million, a 22 percent increase, the authors of the study wrote. 
    So far this decade, they added, there are also new areas of growth, including
exurban counties in the Atlanta , Chicago , New York , and Washington , D.C. , 
metropolitan areas, plus parts of Texas , central Florida , and a few other states. 
    Since 2000, the Hispanic population more than doubled in metropolitan 
Winchester , Va. ; Scranton , Pa. ; Cape Coral , Fla. ; and Hagerstown , Md. . 
The largest numerical increases were in metropolitan Los Angeles (576,630); 
Riverside , Calif. , (545,152); Dallas (472,222); Houston (470,157); and 
New York (418,720).
    Black populations declined in metropolitan New Orleans , San Francisco , 
Los Angeles , San Diego and New York . The biggest numerical gains were in 
Atlanta (370,470), Houston (142,364), Dallas (130,367), Miami (126,819) 
and Washington (114,915). 
    The growth in Atlanta , Houston and Dallas was attributed in part to survivors 
of Hurricane Katrina moving to those cities. 
    The highest growth rates among Asian populations were in metropolitan 
Napa , Calif. , and Ocala , Naples , Cape Coral and Port St. Lucie , Fla.
    The greatest numerical increases were in New York (309,773), Los Angeles  
(216,987), Washington (105,390), San Francisco (103,073) and 
Chicago (93,237).
    Metropolitan Phoenix; Atlanta; Dallas; Houston; Las Vegas; Austin, Tex.; 
Charlotte; Portland, Ore.; and Raleigh, N.C., each recorded gains in non-Hispanic
whites of more than 100,000 since 2000. The largest losses were registered by
metropolitan New York (248,422), Los Angeles (193,109), San Francisco 
(127,151) and New Orleans (111,162).
    Harris County, Tex., home to Houston , gained 121,400 minority residents 
from 2005 to 2006, the most of any county. Sixty-three percent of its residents 
were members of minorities. 
    Maricopa County , Ariz. , home to Phoenix , recorded the biggest numerical 
increase in Hispanic residents (71,000) and also the biggest increase in 
non-Hispanic whites (35,500).
    Harris County and East Baton Rouge Parish registered the biggest 
increases in black residents, 52,000 and 19,000, respectively.

8/3/07

    Researchers also visited eight colleges with high numbers of Asian students,
including Cupertino 's DeAnza College .
    Many of the differences were attributed to the number of years that an ethnic
group had been in the United States - or whether immigrants had arrived to 
escape war and persecution or seek high-tech jobs. 
    The report, released July 27 before the education committee of the U.S. 
House of Representatives, found wide differences in: 
    Adult education. A high percentage of adult Asian Indians (68 percent) and 
Chinese (53 percent) had at least a college degree. In contrast, only 25 percent
of Vietnamese, 17 percent of Pacific Islanders and 13 percent of other 
Indochinese - Cambodians, Laotians and Hmong - had a college degree. 
    English fluency. More than 90 percent of Filipinos, Indians and Japanese 
identified themselves as fluent in English. Only 70 percent of Koreans, 62 percent
of Vietnamese and 60 percent of the other Indochinese groups identified 
themselves as fluent. 
    Funding. About 80 percent of Vietnamese students reported that their parents
paid none of their tuition. And large percentages of Southeast Asian and Pacific
Islander groups lived at home. 
    In contrast, many Chinese, Indian and Korean undergraduates reported that
they worked to gain job experience or earn spending money. 
    Simply put, poverty creates barriers to education, whether one is Asian-
American, Latino or African-American, said Paul Fong, a political science 
professor at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose. 
    "There's an achievement gap among Filipino-Americans, Cambodian-
Americans and Vietnamese-Americans - the haves and have-nots," said Fong,
noting that it can be difficult to dream about higher education when one is worried
about earning money to pay the bills. 
    For a copy of the report, see www.gao.gov/new.items/d07925.pdf.

5/28/07 www.politico.com: Pay attention to Asian-American voters
by: James G. Gimpel and Wendy K. Tam Cho
    With Republicans making little progress in winning over Latino voters and Democrats in little danger of losing many, it may be time for the political parties to consider an ethnic constituency that really is up for grabs, the Asian Pacific American population.
    Consisting of several large nationality groups and a number of smaller ones, Asian-Americans have been mostly ignored, even as they move out of traditional areas of ethnic concentration and vote in higher proportions than Latinos.
    While less numerous than Latinos, the Asian Pacific American population is the fastest-growing minority population, and it is an important electoral presence in a number of states -- not only California and Hawaii but also Arizona, Nevada, Alaska, Utah and Washington in the West; Missouri and Illinois in the Midwest; New Jersey, Maryland, New York and Massachusetts in the Northeast; and Florida, Texas and Virginia in the South. Without question, the Asian-American population is consequential in many additional locations in races for local offices.
    The 2006 national exit poll shows Asians to be much more equally divided in their party identification (35 percent Democratic, 27 percent Republican) than Latinos, with a substantial share reporting to be independents. While only 15 percent of Latino voters reported they were independent in national exit polling, 33 percent of Asian-Americans did.
    Latinos voted 2-to-1 in favor of Democratic gubernatorial candidates in the 2006 elections, but Asians split their support evenly, 48 percent Democratic, 46 percent Republican. In the 2006 U.S.
    House contests, due to incumbency advantages, Asians went more Democratic (59 percent), but nothing like Latinos (71 percent). Given an objective examination of the data, then, this population looks like it could be a genuine swing constituency, and not just in California .
    Of course, referring to Asian-Americans as a "group" is an imperfect definition. After all, they are more likely to identify in nationality terms -- as Korean, Vietnamese or Chinese -- than as a pan-ethnic bloc. It makes the most sense to think of them as local blocs, rather than as a nationally cohesive group that can be characterized as monolithic.
    A smart campaign will approach differences between local Asian voting blocs by accumulating extensive knowledge about the resident population, relying upon volunteers, local operatives and a higher-than-usual amount of shoe leather to assemble a proper understanding. Today's overly professionalized and centralized campaigns are unaccustomed to thinking this way about outreach, and that accounts for both parties' poor performance among Asian-Americans in locations outside California and Hawaii.
    In recent weeks, we have examined two locations where the Asian-American population is worth special note: Nevada , sure to be a presidential battleground state in 2008, and Oregon , where a highly targeted U.S. Senate election in 2008 looms. Could the margins of victory in these contests come down to Asian-Americans? Surely they could, as they might in Florida and a large number of other states.
    Nevada is a fast-growing state, and Californians are spilling into Clark County (which encompasses Las Vegas) and Washoe County (encompassing Reno ) in search of a lower cost of living. As of fall 2006, Nevada was home to 14,000 Chinese-American registered voters, 6,000 Vietnamese, 7,600 Koreans and nearly 7,000 of Japanese ancestry -- surely consequential numbers in any close election. Voter registration records suggest that Asians in Nevada lean toward the Republican Party more than they do nationally, but not by much.
    Notably, in 2006, turnout was lower than it could have been for all of these nationality groups except for those of Japanese ancestry, who happen to have the deepest roots in the United States. For the Vietnamese, Koreans and Chinese, however, turnout in Nevada 's midterm elections hovered between 31 percent and 36 percent -- a clear sign that these voters were not being activated by the two major political parties.
    And Oregon is home to extraordinarily large Asian populations that remain unaffiliated with either political party. Twenty-five percent of metropolitan Portland 's Japanese population remains politically unattached, but this percentage jumps to 31 percent for Vietnamese, 33 percent for Koreans and 37 percent for Chinese. That such large shares of these populations have no certain party identification is arguably a sign of political party neglect and widespread campaign ignorance.
    Bearing these numbers in mind, the two political parties and their campaign committees would do well to build an effective outreach strategy to the Asian-Americans living on hotly contested terrain.
    James G. Gimpel is a professor of government at the University of Maryland . He consults with parties, interest groups and candidates on mapping and get-out-the-vote strategies. Wendy K. Tam Cho is an associate professor of political science and statistics and senior research scientist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

5/1/07 2000 Census: Metropolitan Areas with the Highest Proportion of Asian Americans  
Metropolitan Area     Total population         % of Asian Americans
Honolulu, HI MSA      876,156          46.0%
San Francisco Bay Area      7,039,362      18.4%
Greater Los Angeles Area   16,373,645    10.4%
Sacramento/Yolo, CA CMSA          1,796,857      9.0%
San Diego , CA MSA            2,813,833      8.9 %
Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area 3,554,760      7.9%
New York metropolitan area            21,199,865    6.8% 
Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area  7,608,070      5.3%
Greater Houston         4,669,571      4.9%
Las Vegas , NV/AZ MSA      1,563,282      4.7%

2/7/07 press release from Congressman Mike Honda (CA-15), Chair of the 
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC): 
    The rate of uninsured in the Asian American community in the United States  
increased to 17.9% in 2005 from 16.5% in 2004, and 21.8% of Pacific Islanders 
are currently uninsured. Over 2.3 million AAPIs are without health insurance, 
and millions more can barely afford to pay their premiums.  
    According to the 2000 Census, over 370,000 AAPI children live below the 
poverty level, that is, 14.3% of Asian American children, and 22.7% of Pacific 
Islander children. 
    There are approximately 328,000 veterans of AAPI descent, and 62,378 
AAPIs who are currently on active duty in the military. 
    Over 220,000 Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are looking for work.
    The Census reported 1.1 million small businesses owned by Asian 
Americans that employed over 2.2 million individuals in the U.S. in 2002. 
    AAPIs tend to have higher life expectancies than the majority of the 
population. In 2004, Social Security constituted 90% or more of total income 
for 31% of elderly married couples and 50% of elderly unmarried persons of 
AAPI descent.

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