Hawaii is already known as a melting pot, but our diversity is expanding.
According to the U.S. Census, Hawaii’s Latino population grew nearly 40-percent over ten years.
There were close to 130,000 Hispanics living across the state last year, up from nearly 88,000 in 2000.
Most of the Latino’s that live in Hawaii are former military members.
Also, Filipinos surpassed Japanese as Hawaii’s largest Asian group.
"Hawaii becomes a very attractive for many people outside the Philippines being one," said Noel Kent, an Ethnic Studies professor at the University of Hawaii. "If you look at the situation in the Philippines, the economic political instability, the movement that many Filipinos out of Philippines to seek greener economic pastures. This is part of a long pattern we see in the Philippines so its not surprising."
The mixed-race or "hapa" population in Hawaii also increased in the last ten years.
Officials say one out of four people in Hawaii now considers themselves "hapa".
See the original article at: KHON2 Developing Stories
