Different groups of Asian immigrants in the United States come to this country for different reasons, a Pew Research Center study found. Of course there is some overlap, but the most common reasons vary among immigrants from China, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, and South Korea.
Most Chinese immigrants (38%) said they came for educational opportunities, while the largest group, Indians, at 42%, said they immigrated to the United States for economic opportunities. This is consistent with U.S. international student statistics, which show that Chinese students are the country’s largest group of international students. Indian students ranked second among the largest international students in the United States, with 29% of Indians saying they came to the United States for educational opportunities. For Chinese immigrants, the second reason was to be with family (31%). According to the United Nations, there are approximately 1.1 million Chinese-born people living in the United States, compared to 1.3 million Indian-born people.
Economic opportunity was also one of the main reasons Filipinos came to the United States. 41 percent of Filipinos said this, with just as many citing being with family as the reason. Filipinos, the third largest immigrant group in the United States after Mexicans and Indians, have immigrated to the United States since the early 20th century, when the United States annexed the country. South Korea and the United States also have a long shared history, which escalated during the Korean War in the 1950s. Koreans living in the United States were most likely to say they came to be with family (38%), followed by educational opportunities (28%). Finally, most Vietnamese said they came to Vietnam to escape conflict or persecution (32%). When U.S. troops withdrew from Vietnam in 1975, many Vietnamese who had ties to the U.S. military or were threatened under Vietnam’s new communist government came to the United States. The second most common reason for Vietnamese people was to be with family (29%).
Almost three-quarters of immigrants surveyed said they would come to the United States again. For Indians, this figure is lowest at two-thirds of respondents, with 15 percent saying they would stay in their home country if given another chance. Far fewer people from other major Asian immigrant nations can say the same. About three-quarters of respondents said their standard of living was better than that of their parents, but only about half doubted that their children’s standard of living was higher than theirs. Across all groups, Asian immigrants said that family ties were better in their home countries, but opportunities, freedom of speech, gender equality, and child care were better in the United States. It was evaluated that there is.
