19 thoughts on “It’s Confirmed – Desis Are Growing

  1. The census figure of 3 million + Indian Americans includes multiracial Indians. The number of Americans of purely Indian origin is more like 2,850,000.

  2. I have spent a couple of hours on the pdf, and the results are truly fascinating. Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are relatively new immigrants, unlike Indians who have been coming here since the late 60s, and in terms of education and employment, they are on par with Indians. Their numbers are still very small compared to that of Indians, though, which is probably why there is so much Indian visibility in media and wall street and academia, but that should change in the next 10-20. With high academic achievement and cultural emphasis on profession and family, Asians as a block could be game changing. However, with the infighting you see between Hindus and Muslims, Indians and Pakistanis, Chinese and Taiwanese as well as war-torn psyches of Cambodians and Vietnamese, I don’t see Asians coming together as a block. Which is real pity.

    Thanks for this post, taz.

    • From the above document, the college rate for Indians is 68%, for Pakistanis 55% and Bangladeshis is 47%

      The per-capita income for Indians is $36k, for Pakistanis $24k, and for Bangladeshis, $16k

      Just as in UK, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis currently lag and will in future also lag Indians and are headed to under-class

      • Pakistanis in the US are different from the Pakistanis in Britain (who include a very large segment of Mirpuri Kashmiris, who came with low literacy, got generous welfare and got into “true Islam” in a state where multicultralism was being seriously attempted…none of this is true of Pakistani immigrants to the US). My guess is that per capita income for Pakistani-Americans will rise though the gap with Indians will probably increase a little. I dont think the Pakistani American community is headed for the kind of underclass status you imply. That said, I do think there will be a dramatic difference in other areas. In academic achievement, cultural achievement and civic engagement within America, Indians will continue to pull ahead and the gap will widen. e.g.,I have read somewhere (I wish I had the link handy, but someone may find it and post it) that if you look at National honors society finalists, the gap between Indians and Pakistanis is MUCH larger than the gap between their respective populations. In my own field (academic medicine) the gap is not narrowing, its growing. There are many Pakistani doctors, but not as many Pakistanis in academics and research.

      • This guy rec1man is a notorious Internet troll tirelessly spreading BS about south indian brahmins having the highest IQs in the whole world, despite zero evidence! He has no love for low caste hindu desis either.

        Unfortunately for him Pakistani and Bangladeshi Americans have been more in the news lately than Tamil Brahmin Americans, as exemplars of the American dream. There is the innovative pakistani-american engineer Shahid Khan a self-made billionaire who just became the first minority to own an NFL franchise, as elite as you can get in American sports. There is Bangladeshi-American Salman Khan who is in the news for innovating in the education sector with his Khan Academy which is extolled and financed by Bill Gates, the Google guys and other such luminaries. Two Pakistani-Americans Osman Rashid and Babur Habib are also leading edge innovators in the education sector with their Kno project. Then there is Pakistani-American Hosain Rahman who is in the news for his innovative wrist band the Jawbone Up. He is the man behind the king of Bluetooth headsets, the Jawbone line and the best of breed Bluetooth speakers the Jawbone Jambox.

        Considering that Pakistanis and Bangladeshis combined are fewer than half a million, a small fraction of the Indian-American population, it looks like they are making quite an impact in America.

        • but all this, including my comment, is anecdotal. There are many Pakistani achievers and Indian achievers but what are the aggregate figures? Does someone have data about enrollment in PhD programs, National merit scholars, something else quantitative? What does the data say? I was trying to point out that the pakistani american population is NOT likely to become an economic underclass or a ghettoized population like a faction of the British Pakistani community..the two populations are very different. But at the same time, the average academic/research achievement and penetration in mainstream cultural fields and politics is likely to be higher for the Indian population and (anecdotally) this gap seems to be growing, not shrinking. But again, that does not mean Pakistanis are headed for some kind of underclass status. BOTH Pakistanis and Indians (and Bangladeshis for that matter) are likely to be relatively successful minorities. But within these groups, Indians seem on track to continue to outperform the other two, at least in the next 10 years.

  3. so broken down by percent of total population, south asians americans account for ~1.3% of the population? i’m actually surprised the number’s that small.

  4. You’re a troll, but I’ll play. Indians have been coming to the US since the 1960s, and only professionals were allowed in. Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have been coming to US in noticeable numbers since 1980s and especially the 1990s, at a time when immigration rules were more relaxed. That is, many of the Pakistanis and Bangladeshis arriving here, unlike the Indians, are often of lower income and come here drive taxis or work in menial jobs. Regardless, it is clear that within 20 years, they are already on par with the more elite Indians that got to come here in the 60s and 70s.

    “The per-capita income for Indians is $36k, for Pakistanis $24k, and for Bangladeshis, $16k” Your inability to understand how context defines statistics says a lot about your lack of critical thinking skills. Your predictions of who will or will not be underclass is as valid as those nuts who routinely predict the end of the world.

    Wishful thinking doesn’t equal reality.

    • Deshi,

      My friend from across the border, I m with you. Contrary to popular notions, available data and a good sample set in British Pakistanis I agree that Pakistanis are model immigrants.If only those pesky Americans were like the British and allowed people from Pakistan their rightful place which is only at the top above everyone else.

  5. deepal, Asian Americans(including Indians, Pakistanis,etc.) as a whole barely amount to 5% of the US population.. They just have increased visibility because of their concentration in major metros and higher average levels of education.

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  7. Anyone know why the Sri Lankan community in the US is so small? The UK, Canada, Australia and even France have considerably larger numbers of them, so I’m wondering why the Sri Lankan American population is considerably lower than one might expect.

  8. Why are we happy about the uncontrolled population growth back home. India is a mess on a brink of disaster due to scarcity of resources.

    Key today is low population and high productivity. Take Scandinavian countries for example.