EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EDT, JULY 29, 1999 (THURSDAY)
Public Information Office CB99-142
301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax)
301-457-1037 (TDD)
e-mail: pio@census.gov
Claudette Bennett
301-457-2402
Most Asians and Pacific Islanders Have Graduated From
High School, Census Bureau Reports
The vast majority (85 percent) of Asians and Pacific Islanders age 25 and
over had at least a high school diploma in 1998, according to tabulations
released today on the Internet by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.
The 1998 tabulations include data on such characteristics as population
distribution, employment, educational attainment, income, earnings and
poverty.
Some additional highlights:
- Forty-two percent of Asians and Pacific Islanders 25 years and over
had earned at least a bachelor's degree.
- Thirty-two percent of Asians and Pacific Islanders 15 years and
over had never married, compared with 24 percent of non-Hispanic
Whites.
- Approximately 82 percent of both Asian and Pacific Islander and
non-Hispanic White families contained married couples.
- Approximately 55 percent of the Asian and Pacific Islander
population lived in the West.
The Asian and Pacific Islander population includes many groups who
differ in language, culture and recency of immigration. Some of the Asian
groups, such as the Chinese and Japanese, have been in this country for
several generations. Others, such as the Hmong, Vietnamese, Laotians and
Cambodians, are comparatively recent immigrants. Relatively few Pacific
Islanders are foreign born; of course, Hawaiians are native to this land.
Asians make up 95 percent of the total Asian and Pacific Islander
population.
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