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Asian Pacific Islander Health

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Handbook of Immigrant Health

Abstract

Asian Pacific Islander Americans (A/PI), one of the United States’ smallest subpopulations at 3% of the total U.S. population (1990 U.S. Census, in Lum, 1995), is also the fastest growing minority group in the United States. Three factors contribute to its rapid increase in size. The Immigration Act of 1965, which did away with country quotas and promoted the reunification of immigrant families, the steady influx of Southeast Asian refugees since 1975, and the contemporary stream of Asian immigrants into the United States swelled the A/PI population 141% between 1970 and 1980. Between 1980 and 1990, the population continued to grow and doubled in size from 3.5 million to more than 7 million (Burr & Mutchler, 1993; Lin-Fu, 1988). With this continued rate of growth, the U.S. Asian Pacific Islander population is estimated to reach 10 million by the year 2000 (Lin-Fu, 1988).

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Takada, E., Ford, J.M., Lloyd, L.S. (1998). Asian Pacific Islander Health. In: Loue, S. (eds) Handbook of Immigrant Health. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1936-6_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1936-6_16

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