The U.S. Census Bureau released the 2009 National, State and County population characteristics on June 10, 2010. The following are a few facts about Hawaii:
On July 1, 2009, Asians (alone or in combination) accounted for 53.3% of the state total population (ranked #1 in the nation in terms of shares of Asians in total population; ranked second is California at 14.0%). This percentage is a decrease from 58.2% in April 2000. On July 1, 2009, Honolulu County had the largest percentage of Asian (alone or in combination with other races) population at 57.0%, followed by Kauai County at 49.6%, Maui County at 44.3%, and Hawaii County at 43.2%. All counties experienced declining shares of Asian population over the past nine years.
On July 1, 2009, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (alone or in combination) accounted for 21.6% of Hawaii’s total population (ranked #1 in the country in terms of shares of this race group in the total population). This is a decrease from the 23.4% in April 2000. Hawaii County had the largest share of Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders at 30.0%, followed by Maui County at 24.7%, Kauai County at 24.0%, and Honolulu County at 19.4%. All counties experienced declines in their Native Hawaiian population shares between 2000 and 2009.
On July 1, 2009, White alone or in combination accounted for 43.4% of the state total population (ranked the second from the bottom in the nation in terms of shares of this race group in the total population, Washington D.C. had the lowest share at 41.8%). This percentage is up from the 40.3% in April 2000. Hawaii County ranked the first in terms of shares of White population. 57.0% of the total population on the Big Island was White alone or in combination with other races on July 1, 2009. Maui County had 53.7% of White population and ranked the second, followed by Kauai County at 51.9%, and then Honolulu County at 38.5%. All counties experienced increases in White population during the past nine years.
Statewide, the White alone population increased from 25.9% of the state total in April 2000 to 30.2% in July 2009. In terms of growth rate, White alone increased at an annual rate of 2.4 percent per year from 2000 to 2009 as compared with total population growth of 0.7% annual rate during the same period.
On July 1, 2009, Hawaii had 8,136 people with American Indian and Alaska Native race alone, more than two folds of the April 2000 figure. There were 41,553 people with Black race alone in Hawaii on July 1, 2009, a 78.1% increase from April 2000 (23,334 people).
On July 1, 2009, the population 65 year and above accounted for 14.5% (ranked 8th in the nation), while persons 85 years of age and above shared 2.5% of the total population (6th place in the nation). These percentages of aged population are significantly higher than April 1, 2000, when the population 65 years and above accounted for 13.3% of the total, and population 85 and above accounted for 1.4% of the total.
Hawaii’s population 65 years and above increased at 1.7% annual rate from July 1, 2000 to July 1, 2009 while our total population increased 0.7% a year during the same period.
On July 1, 2009, Honolulu and Kauai counties had the same percentage of 65 year+ population at 14.9%. 14.1% of the population on the Big Island was 65 years or above in July 2009 while Maui County had the smallest share of 65 year+ population at 12.4%.
Population in Honolulu County was relatively younger with median age of 36.9 years in July 2009, followed by Maui County at 38.0 years, and Hawaii County at 39.2 years. Median age for population on Kauai was 40.4 years in July 2009. Statewide median age in July 2009 was 37.5 years.
On July 1, 2009, Hawaii’s total population consisted of 50.5% males and 49.5% females.
There are more females than males for Asians but for other races, there are more males than females.
Mixed race population in Hawaii decreased from 20.1% on April 1, 2000 to 18.0% on July 1, 2009, while the percentage of mixed race population in the nation on July 2009 was only 1.7%.
School age population (5-17 years) decreased by 1,755 per year during the 2000 to 2009 period.
Source: Research and Economic Analysis Division, DBEDT.