More Asian Women Marry Outside Of Their Race

China Press, News Report - New American Media

 While the interracial/interethnic marriage rate among Asians – 30.8 percent in 2008 – has more or less held steady over the last three decades, the trends for Asian men and Asian women are moving in opposite directions. China Press reports that the rate of Asian men getting into interracial/interethnic marriages has significantly dropped from 25 percent in 1980 to 19.5 percent in 2008, while the rate for Asian women grew from 37 percent to 40 percent, over the same time period. The newspaper cited a recent study by the Pew Research Center that used the latest available data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the article, the rate of marriage to someone in the same racial or ethnic group among first generation Asian immigrants increased from 72 percent in 1980 to 87 percent in 2008, due to an upswing in Asian immigration in the last two decades. However, U.S.-born Asians are much more likely to marry someone outside their own race/ethnicity -- 46 percent in 2008. Overall, 16 percent of Asians are in interracial marriages.