Asian Immigrants Surpass Number of Hispanics in US

Asian Immigrants Surpass Number of Hispanics in US

Asians have surpassed Hispanics as the largest group of new immigrants to the United States, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.

The study, labeled as “The Rise of Asian Americans” and was released on Tuesday, shows that Asian-Americans also are the best educated, have the highest income and the fastest-growing racial group in America.

About 430,000 Asians–or 36 percent of all new immigrants–arrived in the United States in 2010, according to U.S. census data. About 370,000, or 31 percent, were Hispanic.

The wave of incoming Asians pushed the total number of Asian-Americans to a record 18.2 million, or 5.8 percent of the total U.S. population, according to census data. By comparison, non-Hispanic whites (197.5 million) account for 63.3 of the U.S. population, while Hispanics (52 million) and non-Hispanic blacks (38.3 million) account for 16.7 percent and 12.3 percent, respectively.

The influx of Asians reflects "a slowdown in illegal immigration while American employers increase their demand for high-skilled workers," the Associated Press said.

"The educational credentials of these recent [Asian] arrivals are striking," the report said. Sixty-one percent of 25-to-64-year-old Asian immigrants come with at least a bachelor's degree–more than double non-Asian immigrants, making the recent Asian arrivals "the most highly educated cohort of immigrants in U.S. history."

The study also revealed that Asian-Americans are "more satisfied than the general public with their lives, finances and the direction of the country, and they place a greater value on marriage, parenthood, hard work and career success."

Last month, data released by the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that there were more minority children born in the United States than Americans for the first time in history — signaling the dawn of an era in which whites no longer will be in the majority, as the Washington Post said.

According to the census report, 50.4 percent of children born in a 12-month period that ended July 2011 were Hispanic, black, Asian-American or from other minority groups, while non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of all births in that span.

Posted by Sophia Andrews on Thursday June 21 2012, 3:46 AM EST. Ref: CNN. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Travel. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0