Demographics

• In July 2008, an estimated 15.5 million U.S. residents were Asian (about 5% of the total U.S. population); and an estimated 1.1 million people were Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders (0.4% of the total population).

• In 2008, Chinese Americans (3.62 million) were the largest Asian group, followed by Filipinos (3.09 million), Asian Indians (2.73 million), Vietnamese (1.73 million), Koreans (1.61 million), and Japanese (1.3 million).

• The largest Pacific Islander groups are the Native Hawaiians, Guamanians, Samoans, and Tongans.

• California had the largest Asian as well as Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander populations in 2008.

• Hawaii is the nation's only majority-Asian state. Asians made up the highest proportion of the total population (54%) in 2008; and more than 50% of the Catholic population is of Asian and Pacific origins.

• Except for the Filipinos, the majority of Asian people in the United States are followers of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam.

• Of the new priests from the ordination class of 2009, 11% were of Asian origins even though the percentage of Asian Catholics in the United States is only 4-5%.

• The 10 dioceses with the highest number of Asians, according to the 2000 Census, are Los Angeles, Honolulu, Brooklyn, San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco, Orange, Seattle, New York, and Chicago.

• Asian Catholics also include members of the Eastern Catholic Churches of the Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, and Maronite traditions.

• To date, only five bishops of Asian and Pacific origins have been ordained; four remain active.

Source: USCCB, Asian and Pacific Presence: Harmony in Faith(2001)