Its findings are based on a nationally representative online survey of 1,200 Indian American residents in the United Statesthe 2020 Indian American Attitudes Survey (IAAS)conducted between September 1 and September 20, 2020, in partnership with research and analytics firm YouGov. Most of these children are native-born themselves. Therefore, the map above looks at the country other than Mexico that is the birthplace of the most foreign-born respondents in the survey. Eleven percent finished high school elsewhere, while only 8 percent had less than a high school education. Fifty-eight percent of Christians report attending church at least once or several times per week. The February 2021 IAAS study found several indications that polarization in India had successfully metastasized in the Indian American community in the United States. U.S. Census data affirm that Indian Americans enjoy a standard of living that is roughly double that of the median American household, underpinned by substantially greater educational attainmentthe share of Indian Americans with at least a bachelors degree is twice the national average.4 However, these aggregate figures mask severe inequalities within the community. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Mexico is the top origin country of the U.S. immigrant population. The major findings are briefly summarized below. Using data from the US Census Bureau, we found the country that was the most common birthplace for foreign-born residents in each state (excluding Mexico, which was the most common country of birth for immigrants in 32 states). In 2017, the Trump administration deported 295,000 immigrants, the lowest total since 2006. A very small minority, around 10 percent, strongly or somewhat disagrees. In the 1830s, the number grew to 235,000, and in the 1840sdue to a potato . The percentage of the population born outside the US varies widely from state to state. Table 1 provides a demographic profile of the IAAS sample in comparison to the Indian American sample in the 2018 ACS. OCI status effectively functions as a lifetime visa and also grants recipients the ability to live and work in India on a permanent basis. An estimated 50.6 million American residents, or a little more than 15% of the countrys 331.4 million inhabitants, were born abroad. There is some evidence to suggest that there are vintage effects: the longer a respondent has spent in the United States, the less emphasis they place on their Indian identityperhaps a reflection of their gradual integration into their adopted homeland. 30 For an overview of the debate over caste categories in Islam in South Asia, see Julien Levesque, Debates on Muslim Caste in North India and Pakistan: From Colonial Ethnography to Pasmanda Mobilization, Institut Francais de Pondichery and Centre de Sciences Humaines, June 1, 2020, https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02697381/document. A few findings merit attention. Some 47% of immigrants living in the U.S. five years or less are proficient. Comments. There is no variation at all based on duration of stay in the United States. Immigrants convicted of a crime made up the less than half of deportations in 2018, the most recent year for which statistics by criminal status are available. Democrats, however, are more strident in their views toward individuals from the other party. Many Indian immigrants might have brought with them identities rooted in their ancestral homeland, while others have eschewed them in favor of a nonhyphenated American identity. Some 42% of immigrants in the U.S. speak Spanish at home. U.S.-born citizens report the highest levels of civic engagement, followed by foreign-born citizens and, in all categories save for one, non-citizens report the lowest levels of civic engagement. The results are displayed in figure 11. The length of ones stay in the United States also plays an important role in shaping self-identification. Is the immigrant population growing? Many states have large immigrant populations from India. As with political parties in the American context, there is a certain degree of asymmetric polarization as far as supporters of the Congress and the BJP are concerned, although both groups are generally more hostile toward supporters of the opposing Indian party than is true in the analogous case of Republicans and Democrats (see figure 24). This section reviews respondents views on discrimination against Indian Americans. He is the author of When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics and hosts a weekly Carnegie podcast on Indian politics and policy, Grand Tamasha. 28 Dutt, The Specter of Caste in Silicon Valley; Jennifer Medina, Debate Erupts in California Over Curriculum on Indias History, New York Times, May 4, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/us/debate-erupts-over-californias-india-history-curriculum.html. Figure 19 displays the responses to this question, collapsing five response categories into three for ease of exposition. According to data from the 2018 American Community Survey (ACS)which is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureauthere are 4.2 million people of Indian origin residing in the United States. The five largest foreign-born groups in the United States, including those from Mexico, the Philippines, India, China, and Vietnam, account for 44 percent of the total immigrant population. Still others reject hyphenation entirely, preferring to be known simply as American. For instance, former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal declared in 2015, I do not believe in hyphenated Americans. The data for this survey are based on a unique survey of 1,200 adults of Indian origin conducted between September 1 and September 20, 2020. The margin of error for the full sample of 1,200 respondents is +/- 2.8 percent. where they are the largest immigrant group. A majority of Hindus (52 percent) report attending religious services once or twice a month or just a few times a year, while another 25 percent report seldom or never attending religious services. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Business Insider identified the country of origin of the largest group of foreign-born residents in each state. To provide an accurate picture of the Indian American community as a whole, the full sample contains both U.S. citizens and nonU.S. How do they respond to the dual impulses of assimilation and integration? In all 15 states except West Virginia the total population increased between 2010 and 2016. Relatively few Indian Americans across the board report contacting an elected representative or other government official: 15 percent of U.S.-born citizens, 11 percent of foreign-born citizens, and 9 percent of non-citizens engaged in this class of activities. There are, consequently, a large share of respondents who are only somewhat comfortable having close friends of the opposite faith. Check your email for details on your request. Ten percent of IAAS respondents identify as South Asian American, a term which refers to diaspora populations from countries across the region such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Respondents who acknowledge a caste identity are only slightly more likely to report that some of their social network is made up of people of the same caste (41 percent versus 33 percent for those without a caste identity). It explores this contentious subject in three ways. As the number of Indian-origin residents in the United States has swelled north of 4 million, the communitys diversity too has grown. First, Hindus are more likely to report that most or all of their Indian friends are also Hindus, underscoring a greater degree of religious homogeneity in their social networks. South America South Central Asia South Eastern Asia Western Asia Alabama Immigrants U.S. born Mexico Guatemala India China/HK Korea Germany Vietnam Philippines United Kingdom Canada Honduras Jamaica Japan Colombia El Salvador Immigrants 20K 40K 60K Mapbox OSM Top 15 countries of birth Migration Policy Institute MPI Data Hub She studies misinformation, media effects, and political behavior and employs survey and experimental methods in her work. Nearly one in five (19 percent) identify this way, compared to 10 percent of Muslims and only 6 percent of Hindus. Hindus are also more likely than Muslims or Christians to state that they pray a few times a month, seldom, or never.27, Finally, the survey explores the issue of caste. In the same exchange, Biden later added: One of the reasons why were such an incredible country is were such a diverse country. One should treat these findings with caution. This study relied on a nonrepresentative snowball sampling method to recruit respondents. Fifty-one percent of Democrats say they are somewhat comfortable with Republican friends and 22 percent say they are not comfortable (more than twice the number of Republicans who felt that way about Democrats). For instance, for Indian Americans who skeptically view the rise of Hindu majoritarianism in India, it is unclear how they might apportion blame given that religion, leadership, and political parties are all deeply intertwined, especially in the current political scenario. All rights reserved. Follow. Formally, members of this group are referred to as Scheduled Castes. Saritha Rai, How Big Tech Is Importing Indias Caste Legacy to Silicon Valley, Bloomberg, March 11, 2021, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-03-11/how-big-tech-is-importing-india-s-caste-legacy-to-silicon-valley?sref=QmOxnLFz. 38 Badrinathan, Kapur, and Vaishnav, How Do Indian Americans View India?, 1213. Immigration has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States.In absolute numbers, the United States has a larger immigrant population than any other country in the world, with 47 million immigrants as of 2015. After all, for more than two decades, the Indian diaspora in the United States has been a critical bridge-builder between the two countries.52 But with divisions in the community more apparent and increasingly linked to political disputes in India, we have suggested elsewhere that the diasporas unity of purpose could suffer a setback.53. How Do Indian Americans View India? Existing research has found that among major Asian American communities, Indian Americansboth men and womenhave the highest rate of endogamy (the custom of marrying within ones community) in both the first and second generations, although there is a noticeable increase in marriage outside of the community among members of the second generation.21. What are Indian Americans experiences with discrimination, and how do discriminatory practices manifest? This section explores how Indian Americans view the subject of their own identity. The survey, drawing on both citizens and non-citizens in the United States, was conducted online using YouGovs proprietary panel of 1.8 million Americans and has an overall margin of error of +/- 2.8 percent. Figure 14 disaggregates the results by place of birth and citizenship status. Among all immigrants, those from South Asia (71%) were the most likely to have a bachelors degree or more. Seventy percent state that they strongly or somewhat agree with the statement. Do religious differences and partisan politics exacerbate social distance between members of the Indian American community? According to IAAS data, 54 percent of respondents report belonging to the Hindu faith (see figure 6). 29 Maari Zwick-Maitreyi, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, Natasha Dar, Ralph F. Bheel, and Prathap Balakrishnan, Caste in the United States: A Survey of Caste Among South Asian Americans (Equality Labs, 2018). While we are grateful to all of our collaborators, any errors found in this study are entirely the authors. . Several states have Canada as a major source of immigrants. We are grateful to Ashley Grosse, Alexander Marsolais, and their colleagues at YouGov for their help with the design and execution of the survey. 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