Broad poverty data understate the extent of deprivation among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) children. At first glance, poverty appears to just disproportionately affect Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander children, as Asian American children seem to be nearly as likely as white children to be poor (see Figure A). However, wide economic disparities between AANHPI families and children of different backgrounds hide under these broad statistics. 

Understanding the economic disparities within AANHPI communities in the U.S. requires a deeper assessment and understanding of the contrasting migration and colonial history of each ethnic and racial group, including an examination of how structural racism, sexism, and the model minority myth shape the economic experience of these families. Child poverty can serve as an important part of this discussion, as poverty can be particularly scarring for children throughout their lives.

More than 24 million people make up the AANHPI community in the United States, with children representing about one-fifth of the total population. The families of these children trace their roots to countries in Central, East, and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and the island nations in the Pacific. While Indian American children represent the largest number of Asian American children in the U.S., followed by children of Chinese and Filipino ancestry, children make up a larger share of the total Hmong and Burmese communities (see Figure B). Similarly, a plurality of Polynesian children make up the total Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community, but children represent a larger share of Micronesian and Samoan communities in the United States.

The broad diversity of experience in the AANHPI population is also absent in aggregate income statistics. These aggregate figures obscure economic disparities between different AANHPI families: The median family income for Asian American families is about 34% higher than the national median, but the median family income for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) families is marginally lower than the national figure (see Figure C). Wide disparities are also apparent between families of Indian and Burmese heritage and between families of Micronesian and Guamanian or Chamorro origin.

The profile of AANHPI child poverty is as variable as the income profile of AANHPI families. While about one in 10 Asian American children fall below the poverty line, children of Burmese origin are about three times as likely to be poor. Similarly, children of Cambodian and Hmong origin are about twice as likely as their Asian American peers to fall below the poverty line and about three times as likely as their Filipino and Indian peers (see Figure D). Overall, about one in five NHPI children in the U.S. are poor, but within that group, disparities exist. For example, children of Samoan origin are about twice as likely as their Guamanian or Chamorro peers to experience poverty. Overall, only children of Taiwanese, Indian, or Filipino origin are significantly less likely than their white peers to be poor.  

The good news is that child poverty is not beyond the scope of economic policy. Federal and state policies enacted in the wake of the pandemic show poverty is a policy choice that responds swiftly to public investments. Sustained efforts, like a permanent expansion of the Child Tax Credit, can reach more of the AANHPI children whose experience with poverty remains hidden by aggregate measures.

Note: In 2021, a presidential proclamation expanded the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month to the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month as a more inclusive recognition of Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) refers to people with origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.