Posted on: Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Hawaiian, Pacific island population up 5.8 percent

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer

The nation's population of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific islanders continues to rise at a faster rate than the population as a whole, the U.S. Census Bureau reported yesterday.

The number of people who reported being Native Hawaiians and other Pacific islanders reached 960,000 on July 1, 2003, a growth rate of 5.8 percent since the 2000 census, according to new estimates released by the Census Bureau.

The growth rate of the total U.S. population during that time was 3.3 percent, resulting in about 9.4 million new residents. The total population is an estimated 290.8 million.

The largest rates of growth were seen among Hispanics and Asians.

The population of Hispanics (who may be of any race) grew by 13 percent, reaching 39.9 million, while the number of people who reported being Asian grew 12.5 percent to 13.5 million.

Also released yesterday were breakdowns of race and ethnic groups by age.

About 18 percent of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific islanders were children of elementary-school age, a rate that was highest among all race and ethnic groups. The number of children who are of elementary school age in the nation totaled 36.8 million.