Asian Latinos are a growing but ignored demographic, new analysis shows
The number of "AAPI Latinos" has more than doubled in the last 20 years, yet it remains an often ignored demographic, a new analysis from UCLA shows.
The number of people of both Latino and Asian American or Pacific Islander heritage has more than doubled in the last 20 years yet it remains an often ignored demographic, researchers at UCLA said Wednesday.
The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute analyzed Census Bureau data within the last two decades. This included the 2000 census count as well as American Community Survey 5-year estimates on population characteristics from 2010 and 2022. Their analysis indicates people in the United States who identify as Latino and Asian American or Pacific Islander, or “AAPI Latinos,” rose from 350,000 to 886,000 in that period.
“We looked at people who identify themselves as Latino, who are of Latino ethnicity and then among all these people, we looked at when they fill out the race question, which race did they specify,” said Jie Zong, a senior research analyst. “If they specify they are of (an) Asian race, we considered these individuals AAPI and Latinos.”
This shows mixed-race Asians and Latinos are a more typical occurrence now, said Kevin Kandamby, a graduate student in Chicano/a and Central American Studies and a member of the research team. Part of the reasoning in pursuing this was because this population remains understudied.
“This is still a very niche topic. I’m happy to see that there’s more and more people now understanding that this community is growing,” said Kandamby, who is Mexican and Sri Lankan.
Rating: 5