Indian American population may reach 4.5 mn by 2010

The Indian population in the US is undergoing an extraordinary surge and is likely to reach the 4.5 million mark by 2010, a report based on projections in the census data said on Tuesday.

"...if the trend is sustained, the numbers may shoot beyond what has been predicted so far by census experts. What this means is that by 2010 Indian-Americans will reach the 4.5 million mark. In other words desis are expected to constitute 1.5 per cent of the total American population of 2010," said Indolink, a diaspora website, in its population projection for the 2010 Census.

South Asians in general are crossing the 5.5 million mark in the United States, it noted.

Taking Minnesota as an example, it pointed out that during the 1990s the number of Asian Indians in the state roughly doubled from about 8,000 to nearly 17,000. Mid-term census figures revealed that by 2005 it had nearly doubled again -- making the group the state's second-largest Asian population.

"If one is to extrapolate from these latest US Census figures, the Asian Indian population in America is expected to reveal its steepest rise ever during the 2010 census," the report said.

Asian Indians increased 110 per cent from 428,224 (1980) to 815,447 (1990), and 106 per cent from 815,447 (1990) to 1,678,765 (2000). The Census also ranked Asian Indians as the third largest Asian American group after Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans.

Indian Americans also had the largest percentage increase of the six major Asian groups in the U.S.

In terms of numbers, Chinese Americans were still the largest Asian group in 2000 with 2,432,585 people, Filipinos second with 1,850,314 and Indians third at 1,678,765.

They were followed by Vietnamese (1,122,528), Koreans (1,076,872) and Japanese (796,700).

But according to the American Community Survey in 2004, Asian Indian population growth continued to outpace all other major Asian groups since 2000, with a 34 per cent growth rate during the first four years of this decade alone.

"Based on our projections, Asian Indians already number more than 2.5 million, and have now -- for the first time -- slightly eclipsed the Filipino American population to become the second largest Asian group in the United States. It is expected that they will equal or outnumber Chinese Americans in 2025," Indolink said.

There is a political implication as well at least at the states' level as 2010 approaches, with Asian Indians possibly representing 1.5 percent of the US population.

Considering that there are 7,424 state legislators nationwide, the Indian American community should have at least 100 state legislators of Indian origin as opposed to the four who currently hold office, the website pointed out.