Download the PowerPoint presentation: State of Race April 2013

Americans are contributing to the diversity of the U.S. religious landscape.

From less than 1% of the total U.S. population (including children) in 1965,

Asian Americans have increased to 5.8% (or 18.2 million children and adults in

2011, according to the U.S. Census).  In the

process, they have been largely responsible for the growth of non-Abrahamic

faiths in the United States, particularly Buddhism and Hinduism. Counted

together, Buddhists and Hindus today account for about the same share of the

U.S. public as Jews (roughly 2%). At the same time, most Asian Americans belong

to the country’s two largest religious groups: Christians and people who say

they have no particular religious affiliation.

According to a comprehensive,

nationwide survey of Asian Americans conducted by the Pew Research Center,

Christians are the largest religious group among U.S. Asian adults (42%), and

the unaffiliated are second (26%). Buddhists are third, accounting for about

one-in-seven Asian Americans (14%), followed by Hindus (10%), Muslims (4%) and

Sikhs (1%). Followers of other religions make up 2% of U.S. Asians.  Not only do Asian Americans, as a whole,

present a mosaic of many faiths, but each of the six largest subgroups of this

largely immigrant population also displays a different religious complexion. A

majority of Filipinos in the U.S. are Catholic, while a majority of Korean

Americans are Protestant. About half of Indian Americans are Hindu, while about

half of Chinese Americans are unaffiliated. A plurality of Vietnamese Americans

are Buddhist, while Japanese Americans are a mix of Christians, Buddhists and

the unaffiliated.

In 1965, the Asian-American share of the U.S. population stood at less than 1 percent-having been held down by a century’s worth of exclusionary policies explicitly based on race. That was the year-at the height of the civil rights movement and in the heat of a roaring economy-that the U.S. government opened the gates to immigration from all parts of the world, Asia included. The effect has been transformative for the nation and for Asian Americans. Today they make up nearly 6% of the U.S. population. And in an economy that increasingly relies on highly skilled workers, they are the best-educated, highest-income, fastest-growing race group in the country.

This report sets out to draw a comprehensive portrait of Asian Americans. It examines their demographic characteristics; their social, political and family values; their life goals, their economic circumstances and language usage patterns; their sense of identity and belonging; their attitudes about work, education and career; their marriage and parenting norms; their views on intermarriage and filial obligation; their perceptions about discrimination and intergroup relations; and the nature of their ties to their countries of origin.

It makes comparisons on most of these measures with the attitudes and experiences of the U.S. general public-and, where relevant, with those of other major race and ethnic groups in this country. It also explores similarities and differences among Asian Americans themselves, a diverse population with distinctive languages, religions, cultures, histories and pathways to the United States. The analysis makes comparisons between Asian immigrants and U.S.-born Asians, as well as among the six largest Asian American country of origin subgroups-Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, Indian Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Korean Americans and Japanese Americans.

The report is based on a Pew Research Center telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 3,511 Asian Americans conducted from Jan. 3 to March 27, 2012, in English and seven Asian languages. The sample was designed to enable findings to be reported about each of the six largest country of origin subgroups as well as about the Asian-American population as a whole. The report combines these survey findings with a detailed analysis of economic and demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other official sources.

Next month our colleagues at the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life will issue a second report based on the same survey; it will focus on the religious affiliations, beliefs and practices of Asian Americans. In the months ahead, the Center will release additional reports on other topics related to Asian Americans.