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South Asian American
Total population
1,940,190 0.67%of the US population
Regions with significant populations
California, Northeast, Chicago, New York, and New Jersey
Languages
American English, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Sinhala, Tamil, Telugu, Tibetan, Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto, other Indian languages, others
Religions
Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism
Related ethnic groups
Asians, Desi and Asian American

South Asian Americans are Americans who can trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent, often known as South Asia. The overwhelming majority (2.5 million) are Indian American, though there are also significant numbers of Pakistani Americans, Bangladeshi Americans and Sri Lankan American. Although Pakistan is sometimes incorrectly considered a Middle Eastern nation, they are specifically classified as Asian by the US Census rather than with Middle Eastern Americans who are classified as white.^[1][2]

Many South Asian Americans can trace their ancestry to countries outside South Asia; their ancestors often migrated from India during British rule to other British posessions. For example, New York City has a large Indo-Caribbean community [1] whose ancestors started migrating to British-ruled lands in the Caribbean in 1838, especially Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. Many other South Asian Americans migrated from Fiji, Africa, and the United Kingdom.

As the first large generation of American-raised South Asians started working, professional groups started forming in the mid 1990's including the South Asian Journalists Association, and the Network of South Asian Professionals.

Contents 1 Identity 2 See also 3 External links 4 References 5 Population

Especially amongst the younger generation and individuals brought up in the United States, there is a tendency to identify with others within the broader South Asian community, who may not necessarily share a common national origin, language, culture and/or religion. Some of these people refer to themselves as Desis, from a Sanskrit word used in many South Asian languages and meaning "countryman", which they will also apply to people whose ancestral roots are in a different country from theirs.

• Newah American
• Bangladeshi American
• Indian American
• Pakistani American
• Sri Lankan American
• Desi
• American-Born Confused Desi

• Dissection of American Media Now South Asian stories since 1857 that have made front-page news in America
• South Asian Dictionary South Asian terms ranging from geographical locations to modern pop-culture (compiled by S.A.J.A.)
• Sept. 11 Attacks A compilation of stories relating to South Asian Americans and racial profiling cases following the attacks on September 11, 2001
• Who wants to be an NRI? An article in Hindi about issues involved in decision to become an NRI in geeta-kavita.com
• A Part, yet Apart: South Asians in Asian America Lavina Dhingra Shankar and Rajini Srikanth's book exploring the South Asian diaspora in relation to Asian America
• Dalip Singh Saund: An Asian Indian American Pioneer An article on the first APA congressman
• Book: Professional Life in the US The author has assembled in one place his ideas for professionals aspiring to live and work in the U.S. and North America.
• Dr. Kalpana C. Chawla: First South Asian American in space A webpage documenting her life, her occupation as an astronaut and her death in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003
• Asian Genes This website discusses the genetic distance of different Asian groups.
• Asian Skin This website discusses the skin color of different Asian groups.
• Asian BloodA website that discusses the frequency of ABO and sickle cell blood types in Asians.
• US Census 2000 foreign born population by country----

South Asian American Ancestries in the 2000 US Census^[3]

Ancestry	1990	1990 % of US population	2000	2000 % of US population	Percent change from 1990 to 2000
Bangladeshi	negligible (no data)	negligible (no data)	95,294	0.03%	negligible (no data)
Indian including Indo-Carribean	569,338	0.23%	1,546,703	0.54%	increased 171.7%
Pakistani	99,974	0.04%	253,193	0.09%	increased 153.3%
Sri Lankan	14,448	0.006%	40,000	0.014%	increased 180%
Tibetan	negligible (no data)	negligible (no data)	5,000	0.002%	negligible (no data)
Total	683,760	0.27%	1,940,190	0.67%	increased 188%

v • d • e Asian Americans
East Asian	Chinese · Japanese · Kalmyk · Korean · Mongolian · Taiwanese
South Asian	Bangladeshi · Indian · Indo-Caribbean · Nepali  · Pakistani · Sri Lankan · Tibetan
Southeast Asian	Burmese · Cambodian · Filipino · Hmong · Indonesian · Laotian · Mien · Thai · Vietnamese
Other	Asian Latino · Amerasian · Afro-Asian  · Eurasian · Hapa