A recent report compiled by the Asian American Federation, based largely on U.S. Census data, revealed that the Pakistani community lives in relative poverty, with limited earning resources, compared to New York residents as a whole. The Asian American Federation is a nonprofit organization that promotes leadership in New York Asian-American communities. The Federation has started to prepare reports on different New York communities, based on nationality, language and culture.
The Federation’s report illustrates that the situation of one of New York’s most important communities, the Pakistani Americans, is far less than satisfactory. The standard of English proficiency amongst Pakistani Americans is low when compared with other communities. Furthermore, the community’s economic state is poor and living conditions are horrible. As well, the relatively large Pakistani American families also tend to live crowded together in close quarters, the report said.
The Federation’s executive director, Cao K.O., said that the Pakistani-American community has faced serious problems since the September 11 terrorist attacks, the victim of hate crimes and of job discrimination. U.S. government policies have also proved disappointing for the Pakistani American community, Cao noted, adding that those planning community services would have to take this alarming situation into consideration in order to best help the community.
According to the report, the Pakistani population in New York is around 60,000. The average per capita income of Pakistanis living in New York is $11,992 a year, slightly over half of the average annual per capita income of New York residents of $22,402. More than a third of Pakistani-American children live in poverty, the report found, and over 25 percent of all Pakistanis in New York are poor. The report found that 67 percent of elderly Pakistanis and 48 percent of all adults were below proficiency in English. An average Pakistani household is composed of 4.1 members against the New York average of 2.6 members. According to the report’s findings, the greatest concentration of Pakistanis in the city is in Queens, with about 45 percent of community members residing there, while 41 percent live in Brooklyn and the remaining 14 percent in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island.
