The broad data on child poverty for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders does not capture the entirety of economic history.
Overall poverty data understates deprivation among Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) children. At first glance, it appears that poverty disproportionately affects Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander children, since Asian American children can be poor almost as much as white children (see below). Figure A). However, these extensive statistics hide large economic differences between AANHPI families and children of different backgrounds.
The combined poverty rates hide the disproportionate impact of poverty on children in different AANHPI groups.: Child poverty rate for Whites, Asians and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders, 2021
Race/ethnicity | Child poverty rate |
---|---|
White | 10.6% |
in Asia | 10.3% |
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander | 22.7% |
Note: White means white, not Hispanic or Latino. The AANHPI groups listed are only from all available detailed Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander groups.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community 1 Year Estimate (2021).
Understanding economic inequality in AANHPI communities in the United States requires a deeper appreciation and understanding of contrasting migratory and colonial story every ethnic and racial group, including the study of how structural racism, sexism, and the model myth of the minority shapes the economic experience of these families. Child poverty can be an important part of this discussion, as poverty can be especially painful for children throughout their lives.
More than 24 million people make up the AANHPI community in the United States, where children make up about one-fifth of the total population. The families of these children trace their roots to Central, East and Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Pacific island nations. While Amerindian children make up the largest number of Asian American children in the US, followed by children of Chinese and Filipino ancestry, children make up a large proportion of the total Hmong and Burmese communities (see chart). Figure B). Similarly, many Polynesian children make up the general Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community, but children make up a large proportion of the Micronesian and Samoan communities in the United States.
Children make up a large proportion of AANHPI groups, which are typically underrepresented in general population statistics.: Proportion of people under 18 identifying as Asian or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 2021
Group | Percentage of population under 18 |
---|---|
hmong | 34% |
Burmese | 33% |
in Micronesia | 29% |
in Bangladesh | 27% |
to Pakistan | 26% |
in Samoa | 26% |
All Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders | 25% |
Nepali | 25% |
in Polynesia | 24% |
in India | 24% |
Native Hawaiian | 21% |
Guamanian or Chamorro | 21% |
All Asia | 19% |
in Cambodia | 19% |
in Sri Lanka | 19% |
Vietnamese | 18% |
Chinese (except Taiwanese) | 16% |
in Lao | 16% |
Taiwanese | 16% |
Philippine | 15% |
In Korea | 14% |
in Indonesia | 14% |
Japanese | 10% |
Thai | 9% |
Note: The AANHPI groups listed are only from all available detailed Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander groups.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community 1 Year Estimate (2021).
The wide variety of experiences of the AANHPI population is also missing from the total income statistics. These aggregate figures mask economic disparities between different AANHPI families: the median income for an Asian American family is about 34% higher than the national average, but the median income for a Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) family is marginally lower than the median. country income. figure (see Figure C). Large differences are also evident between families of Amerindian and Burmese ancestry, and between families of Micronesian and Guamese or Chamorro ancestry.
Aggregate AANHPI Household Income Statistics Hide Large Economic Differences: Median household income for all Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander groups, 2021
Group | Average family income |
---|---|
in India | $157427 |
Taiwanese | $146743 |
Japanese | $115861 |
All Asia | $114575 |
to Pakistan | $112895 |
Chinese (except Taiwanese) | $112608 |
in Sri Lanka | $112544 |
Philippine | $110222 |
In Korea | $103612 |
in Indonesia | $103050 |
Thai | $97794 |
Guamanian or Chamorro | $93845 |
All families | $85806 |
Native Hawaiian | $85510 |
Vietnamese | $83839 |
in Samoa | $82813 |
in Polynesia | $81269 |
hmong | $80408 |
All Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders | $80013 |
Nepali | $78513 |
in Lao | $75987 |
in Micronesia | $75529 |
in Cambodia | $74836 |
in Bangladesh | $71130 |
Burmese | $57832 |
Note: The AANHPI groups listed are only from all available detailed Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander groups.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community 1 Year Estimate (2021).
The AANHPI child poverty profile is as variable as the AANHPI family income profile. While about one in ten Asian American children are below the poverty line, Burmese children are about three times more likely to be poor. Similarly, Cambodian and Hmong children are about twice as likely as their Asian American peers to fall below the poverty line, and about three times as likely as their Filipino and Indian peers (see chart). Figure D). Overall, about one in five NHPI children in the US is poor, but there are differences within this group. For example, children of Samoan descent are about twice as likely as their Guamanian or Chamorro peers to experience poverty. In general, only children of Taiwanese, Indian, or Filipino ancestry are significantly less likely than their white peers to be poor.
Aggregate estimates understate how unevenly poverty affects AANHPI children compared to their white peers.: Child poverty rate for Whites, Asians and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders, 2021
Group | Child poverty rate |
---|---|
in Samoa | 35.0% |
Burmese | 30.2% |
in Micronesia | 25.3% |
in Cambodia | 23.4% |
All Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders | 22.7% |
in Polynesia | 22.4% |
hmong | 21.2% |
Guamanian or Chamorro | 17.3% |
in Bangladesh | 16.5% |
in Sri Lanka | 16.4% |
in Lao | 16.3% |
to Pakistan | 16.2% |
Native Hawaiian | 16.1% |
Thai | 14.5% |
Chamorro | 13.1% |
Vietnamese | 12.7% |
Chinese (except Taiwanese) | 11.8% |
Nepali | 11.0% |
in Indonesia | 10.9% |
White | 10.6% |
All Asia | 10.3% |
Japanese | 10.2% |
In Korea | 9.4% |
Philippine | 5.9% |
in India | 4.8% |
Taiwanese | 4.1% |
Note: White means white, not Hispanic or Latino. The AANHPI groups listed are only from all available detailed Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander groups.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community 1 Year Estimate (2021).
The good news is that child poverty does not go beyond economic policy. Post-pandemic federal and state policies show that poverty is a policy choice that responds quickly to public investment. Ongoing efforts, such as the ongoing expansion of the child tax credit, could reach more AANHPI children whose experience of poverty remains hidden by the aggregate.
Note: In 2021, Presidential Executive Order expanded Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI) to Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AANHPI) as a broader recognition of Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander people . Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) refers to people originating from any of the indigenous peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific islands.
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