The number of Bangladeshi Americans, among the fastest-growing Asian origin  groups in the US, has shot up by 263 percent over the past two decades, Dhaka Tribune reported. In 2000, the members of the community totaled 57,000, as against the figure of 208,000 in 2019, according to     .

In contrast, the diaspora population in the US of Bangladesh’s two sub-continental neighbours, India and Pakistan, has registered an increase of 142 percent and 171 percent respectively over the past two decades.

A Pew Research Center analysis of the census data found that the Indian Americans’ number has increased from 1.9 million to 4.6 million, while that of Pakistani Americans has gone up from 204,000 to 554,000.   

The Asian population in the US grew 81 percent during the same period, from around 10.5 million to 18.9 million. The number of US Asians is projected to rise to 35.8 million by 2060. 

In 2019, Asian Americans had a poverty rate of 10 percent, three percentage points lower than the overall US poverty rate (13 percent).

But incidence of poverty was found to be relatively higher among Bangladeshi Americans (19 percent). 

According to the report, the concentration of Bangladeshis in the US was highest in New York, where 93,000 from the group lived, followed by 14,000 in Detroit, 11,000 in Washington DC, 9,000 in Los Angeles, 7,000 in Philadelphia, 6,000 in Dallas, 4,000 each in Houston and Miami, and 2,000 in Boston.  

Average annual household income for Asian-Americans was USD 85,800 in 2019, higher than the USD 61,800 among all US households. But the average Bangladeshi's income was only USD 59,500. 

Among the Asian origin groups, two with the lowest household incomes are Burmese (USD 44,400) and Nepalese (USD 55,000).

Mongolian and Burmese had the highest poverty rates among all Asian origin groups, at 25 percent –about four times the poverty rates among Indians (6 percent).

Poverty rate was as high as 13 percent among Chinese, 15 percent among Pakistanis, and only 7 percent among Filipinos.