Bleak American dream: 2.5 lakh Indians live below poverty line in the US

Indians least numbered among Asians below poverty line, Burmese the most

Updated: Apr 20th, 2024


6% of Indian Americans living in the US find themselves below the poverty line. According to the 2023 statistics released by the Pew Research Center of the USA, a concerning amount of Asians in the USA live below the poverty line.

The report revealed that 14% of them are even unable to pay their medical expenses. Burmese Americans from Asia fare worst at 19%. 13% of Pakistani Americans live below the poverty line. The lowest number of people are Indian and Sri Lankan Americans, with a proportion of 6%.

The report revealed 42,00,000 Indians living in America, out of which the number of Gujaratis is about 8,50,000. According to this, 2,50,000 Indians live below the poverty line in the USA, out of this, an estimated 50,000 are from Gujarat.

In the survey, many revealed the economic dream they had for the US has now faded. This survey was conducted by the PEW Research Center on 7006 Asian groups during 2022-2023.

Difficulty even for primary expenditure

42% of Asians living close to the poverty line have difficulties paying school fees. The college-level education is also very low in this community. 33% of Americans live below the poverty line while 38% are close to the poverty line. Such people depend on social institutions for their food and find it difficult to pay rent, electricity bills, education and health expenses.

Help from religious organizations

In this survey, 60% of Asians living in the USA take help from their kin and friends for electricity bills, household maintenance, and jobs. While 21% of Asians receive help from religious institutions for which temples and churches serve on a large scale.

Many Gujarati youths are also getting help to settle down by connecting with US-based temples.

Is the American dream worth it?

Half of the people living below the poverty line believe that their migration to the USA has been a waste, revealed the survey. They see their goal as dim or distant. In contrast, only 15% of people living above the poverty line believe that their arrival in the USA was a success.

46% of total migrants believe they have achieved their goal. While 27% of people believe they have achieved their financial goals. A total of 29% of Asians in the USA see their prospects as bleak.

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