Source: India Abroad Center for Political Awareness
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 15, 2001: Indian-Americans now comprise a whopping 1.7 million of the total U.S. population of 281, 421, 906. This statistic is part of the U.S. Census 2000 results recently completed. Equivalent to the number of inhabitants in the state of Nebraska, Indian-Americans rank as the third largest Asian-American group next to the Chinese and Filipinos. From 1990 to the year 2000, the Indian Community increased by 106 percent. The growth can be attributed at least in part by the influx of H-1B visa holders and their families. In the year 2000 alone, 55,047 H-1B visas were issued to those from India. The 1.7 million Indians includes all religions, and as the religious division here follows that of India itself, there should be about 1.4 million Hindus among them. However, one doesn’t know how the hundreds of thousands of Hindus from the Caribbean would have identified themselves. As well, minorities are normally undercounted in the census, especially those whose immigration status is less than clear.