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Asian
Immigration Surges In New York
From World Journal
May 24, 2002
The history of immigration in New York has turned a new page in
recent years as a new wave of Asian immigration surpasses that of
Europe. Of the Asian countries, immigration from Bangladesh has
shown the fastest growth in the past decade.
According to the latest census statistics, one out of every 10
New Yorkers is Asian. 45 percent of New Yorks Asian population
is made up of people of Chinese descent, with a 53 percent growth
in the past 10 years. Indians, the second largest Asian immigrant
group, make up 22 percent of the citys Asians after an 80
percent growth in the same period.
Immigration from Bangladesh has shown remarkable growth, resulting
in the tripling of the population from 10 years ago.
The statistics was released by the Census Bureau on May 23 and
is compiled from the 700,000 long forms, which include demographic
details, from the Census 2000.
Meanwhile, people in nearly half of the households in New York
City use languages other than English at home. Seven out of every
100 New Yorkers use Asian languages at home. And, most noticeably,
four out of seven New Yorkers using Asian languages at home consider
their English less than fluent.
Among the five boroughs of New York City, nearly half the population
of Queens, 47 percent, were born overseas. In Brooklyn, 38 percent
of the population is foreign-born while 29 percent of Manhattan
residents were born outside of the United States.
Fifteen percent of New Yorkers arrived in New York City in the
last 10 years and as much as 20 percent of New York Citys
residents are not U. S. citizens.
Forty-seven percent of New Yorkers over the age of five use languages
other than English at home, most of them Hispanic. 12 percent of
New Yorkers speak Spanish at home and consider their English less
than fluent.
From the Census 2000 statistics, 10 percent of the U. S. population
is foreign-born. In New York State, 20 percent were born outside
of the United States and as much as 37 percent in New York City
are foreign-born.
Foreign language-speaking families make up 50 percent of all New
York City households. 30 percent of households in New York State
speak non-English languages at home, more than most other states.
18 percent of the U. S. population over the age of five speaks
foreign languages at home, and among them, 60 percent are Hispanic.
Los Angeles outnumbered New York in bilingual population, with nearly
60 percent of its population speaking foreign languages at home.
Among them, more than 70 percent speak Spanish.
Ma Pan-ti, a civil rights lawyer at the Asian American Legal Defense
and Education Fund (AALDEF), said half of the population in New
York speaks foreign languages and among them, 15 percent use Asian
languages. The statistics showed that most Asians in New York speak
two languages at home and it will be used as a reference when AALDEF
demands that the government uses a bilingual format more often when
issuing public notices.
Translated from Chinese by Larry Tung
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