Sacramento, California: California’s Asian population has increased by 25% over the past decade, making it the fastest-growing ethnic group in the nation’s most populous state, according to new data released Thursday from the US Census Bureau. has gone.
California’s white population declined by 24% between 2010 and 2020, confirming that California is one of three states along with New Mexico and Hawaii where whites are not the largest ethnic group.
Hispanics overtook whites as California’s largest ethnic group in 2014. Census data shows that California’s Hispanic population grew by 11% to 15.5 million, just shy of 40% of the state’s nearly 40 million residents.
But it was the Asian population that had the highest percentage gain over the past decade. California now has more than 6 million people of Asian descent, which is more than the total population of most other states.
Ten years ago, none of California’s 58 counties counted Asians as their largest ethnic group. Now, two do: Alameda County, which includes the cities of Oakland and Berkeley, and Santa Clara County, home of San Jose, the nation’s 10th most populous city and Silicon Valley’s technology capital.
I think the story across the country is primarily focused on the Hispanic population, but in California… I think the Asian population, especially related to the increase in younger age groups, is a major driver of the factors that we Why see this huge increase over the past 10 years, said Noli Brazil, a demographer at the University of California-Davis.
Data released Thursday by the US Census Bureau will be the foundation for redrawing 429 US House districts in 44 states. Republicans need five seats to win a majority in the US House of Representatives.
Data released earlier this year suggests Democratic-heavy California will lose a congressional seat for the first time in its history as its population grew at a slower rate than other states. But partisan play would be less likely to occur in California’s redistribution process because, unlike most states, it is headed by an independent Citizens Redistribution Commission rather than the state legislature.
Thursday’s data release contained some surprises for California. Los Angeles County remains the most populous nation in the country with over 10 million people. Eleven counties lost populations, most of them in sparsely populated areas near the Oregon border that have been ravaged by wildfires in recent years.
Northern California saw double-digit percentage population growth in nine counties, with a 16.9% increase led by Trinity County. Riverside County has the largest increase in total population in Southern California, with more than 228,000 residents.
California’s Asian population growth has spurred increasing political power for the community, including earlier this year when Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Rob Bonta as the state’s first Filipino-American attorney general.
According to Alex Wasser, an unofficial legislative historian at the California State Library, there are now 14 Asian Pacific Islands in the state legislature, which will increase to 15 after a special election is held to fill the Alameda County vacancy in the state legislature.
The increase in influence has coincided with a rise in hate crimes against Asians. A report from the California Attorney General’s office in June revealed 89 hate crimes against Asians in 2020, more than double that in 2019. The highest number of incidents were recorded in March and April 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold in the state.
California’s new operating budget includes $156.5 million in response to attacks on the Asian community, with most of the money going to community organizations that provide victim services.
About $10 million will go toward better data collection to better understand the needs and challenges of the diverse community. Robin Rodriguez, professor of Asian American studies at the University of California-Davis, said California’s Asian population is linguistically diverse and culturally and religiously diverse “which needs better data to understand the specifics of the community.”
He said Asian Americans come to the United States under very different circumstances. Some are products of war and displacement. Others are products of immigration, people who choose to come here. These are all complications that really need some better attention.
Disclaimer: This post has been self-published from the agency feed without modification and has not been reviewed by an editor
read all Breaking Newshandjob breaking news And coronavirus news Here