Asians & Pacific Islanders 1990 Census

Asians & Pacific Islanders Enumerated in the 1990 Census

Compiled by Joe Doyle and Dr. Madhulika Khandelwal

Between 1980 and 1990 the population of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States more than doubled, from 3,500,000 to 7,244,000. The following tables, based on the 1990 Census, represent a statistical sketch of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the U.S.: their ethnic composition, distribution throughout the five boroughs of New York City, and population size relative to other races in our multi-ethnic society. This information is intended to broaden public understanding of the growing Asian community in the United States – and to provide civic leaders with some simple data to use in formulating public policy.

Table 1: 1990 Population by Ethnicity
wdt_ID   New York City U.S.
1 Bangladeshi 4,955 11,838
2 Burmese 507 6,177
3 Cambodian 2,565 147,411
4 Chinese 238,919 1,645,472
5 Fijian 4 7,036
6 Filipino 43,229 1,406,770
7 Guamanian 1,368 49,345
8 Hawaiian 773 211,014
9 Hmong 6 90,082
10 Indian 94,590 815,562
11 Indonesian 1,443 29,252
12 Japanese 16,828 847,562
13 Korean 69,718 798,849
14 Laotian 366 149,014
15 Pakistani 13,501 93,663
16 Samoan 299 62,964
17 Sri Lankan 811 10,970
18 Tahitian 5 944
19 Thai 3,944 91,275
20 Tongan 12 17,606
21 Vietnamese 8,400 614,547
22 Other Asian or Pacific Islander 31,702 176,469

NOTE:The actual numbers of Asians and Pacific Islanders may be larger than the Census figures given here. The Census tends to undercount undocumented and hard-to-document urban populations.

Table 2: New York City Population
wdt_ID   1990 % of population 1980 % of population
1 Total 7,322,564 100.0% 7,071,639 100.0%
2 White 3,827,088 52.2% 4,294,075 60.7%
3 African American 2,102,512 28.8% 1,784,337 25.2%
4 Asian/Pacific Islander 512,719 7.0% 231,501 3.3%
5 Native American* 27,531 0.4% 11,824 0.2%
6 Other Races 52,714 11.6% 749,902 10.6%
7 Hispanic (of any race) 1,783,511 24.4% 1,406,024 19.9%

Note: * Includes Eskimos and Aleutians

Table 3: United States Population by Race (rounded off to the nearest thousand)
wdt_ID   1990 % of population 1980 % of population
1 Total 248,710,000 100.0% 226,546,000 100.0%
2 White 199,686,000 80.3% 188,372,000 83.2%
3 African American 29,986,000 12.1% 26,495,000 11.7%
4 Asian/Pacific Islander 7,274,000 2.9% 3,500,000 1.5%
5 Native American* 1,959,000 0.8% 1,420,000 0.6%
6 Other Races 9,805,000 3.9% 6,758,000 3.0%
7 Hispanic (of any race) 22,354,000 9% 14,609,000 6.4%

Note: * Includes Eskimos and Aleutians

Table 4: Comparative Populations of Six Asian Communities, 1990 and 1980*
wdt_ID   NYC 1990/1980 Queens 1990/1980 Manhattan 1990/1980
4 Chinese 238,919 / 124,764 86,885 / 39,135 71,723 / 51,846
5 Indian 94,590 / 40,945 56,601 / 21,736 7,395 / 6,037
6 Korean 69,718 / 23,257 49,088 / 14,486 6,183 / 2,791
7 Filipino 43,229 / 23,810 22,324 / 11,196 8,116 / 5,373
8 Japanese 16,828 / 13,730 4,037 / 5,487 10,820 / 5,737
9 Vietnamese 8,400 / 3,283 2,419 / 1,418 787 / 570
wdt_ID   Brooklyn 1990/1980 Bronx 1990/1980 Staten Island 1990/1980
1 Chinese 68,191 / 26,880 7,015 / 5,081 5,015 / 1,822
2 Indian 15,641 / 7,258 11,051 / 4,327 3,902 / 1,587
3 Korean 6,608 / 2,827 4,908 / 2,017 2,931 / 1,136
4 Filipino 5,776 / 3,939 3,497 / 1,384 3,516 / 1,918
5 Japanese 1,192 / 720 553 / 1,615 226 / 171
6 Vietnamese 2,708 / 859 2,389 / 404 97 / 32
wdt_ID   Chicago 1990 / 1980 Los Angeles 1990 / 1980 San Francisco 1990 / 1980
1 Chinese 22,295 / 13,638 67,196 / 44,353 127,140 / 82,480
2 Indian 16,386 / 11,209 17,227 / 7,520 3,063 / 2,317
3 Korean 13,863 / 10,165 72,970 / 33,066 6,240 / 3,763
4 Filipino 27,443 / 22,305 87,625 / 43,713 42,652 / 38,265
5 Japanese 6,696 / 8,307 45,370 / 49,335 12,047 / 12,046
6 Vietnamese 4,640 / 2,723 18,674 / 13,257 9,712 / 5,583

Note: * The 1980 Federal Census did not enumerate any Asian groups other than these six.


Sources: 1990 Federal Census; 1980 Census: Characteristics of the Population, August 1982, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

Joe Doyle is publications coordinator and Dr. Madhulika Khandelwal is research historian on the staff of the Asian/American Center of Queens College.Â