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Brown in America

Pew Religious Survey 2008: Breakdown of Hindus in the US

By: Santosh :+: Under: Brown in America
On: ⋅ June 24, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
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The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life came out with its 2008 landscape survey of the breakdown of various religions in the United States among various criteria. [Pew 2008 Survey]

Based on numbers of adults (18+), Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and other minority religious groups constitute a negligible portion of the population to be considered a electoral force.

Note: Eight traditions (Buddhist, Hindu, Jehovah’s Witness, Muslim, Orthodox, Other Christian, Other Faiths and Other World Religions) constitute 5% or less of the population in nearly every state. In these cases, the map will show little or no variation.

Depressing news out of the way, this post attempts to look at the breakdown of US-based Hindus on demographics, beliefs and practices and social and political views.

Breakdown of Hindus in the US
img: via PEW

Demographics: [PDF]
- Surprisingly, there are more Hindus in the Southern states (32%) than the Northeast (29%), West (26%) and Midwest (13%).
- 61% men to 39% women nationwide. Attendance at various desi parties seems to confirm this stat.
- About 60% of Hindus in the US are between 30-49 years in age.
- Among Hindus not listing themselves under the “Asian” variety (12%), almost half (5%) are white.
- 80% of Hindus make more than $50,000 annually.
- Perhaps an extension of the previous sentence, a whopping 48% have a post-graduate degree.
- Almost 80% are married. I find this following stat hard to believe, 0% are living with their unwed partner. Shaadi.com p3wns Match.com?
- Over half (52%) have no kids.

Beliefs and practices: [PDF]
- Over 80% “believe in god”, around 10% are agnostic, 5% are atheists.
- Most (around 85%) list religion in their life are “very” or “somewhat” important.
- As important as religion is, around 60% visit a temple either once a month or few times a year.
- But 62% pray daily. Given the current instability with the visa and green card process and the economy and job situations that does not surprise me one bit.
- When asked how often their prayers have been really answered, the Hindu respondents were all over the map.
- Around half (47%) believe that the scriptures are “written by men, not the word of god”.
- An overwhelming 85% were open to different interpretations of the Hindu religious works.
- As an addendum to above sentence, 89% were open to the idea that followers of other religions could lead an eternal life (Hindu equivalent of Moksha).

Social and Political Views: [PDF]
- No surprise here, 2 of 3 are staunchly or lean Democrat.
- 33%, I’m guessing the younger population, consider themselves liberal. Surprisingly, only 12% consider themselves conservative.
- As an addendum to the Democrat affiliation, 59% believe in bigger government and more services.
- Almost half (46%) are pro-choice in most cases.
- Around half (48%) were pro-gay rights.
- Hindus were almost split down the middle when it came to legislating morality (44% for, 48% against)
- 67% confessed to watching “The Inconvenient Truth”. Not really but they did declare themselves pro-environment.
- Almost 60% preferred that a less interventionist policy for the US in world politics.

Pew should also have done a breakdown of the country of ancestry. Assuming a large number of Hindus are of Indian ancestry, it would’ve been interesting to see what other countries were major sources of Hindus. Maybe even my assumption would’ve proved wrong.

So what do you think about the study in general?
Any comments in particular about:
-the disproportionate sexes composition (almost 60 men to 40 women)
-Do no Hindus live in with their partners or did the respondents lie? Does Shaadi.com really p3wn Match.com? I used neither, so I wouldn’t know.
-Hindus seem more accepting of other religions than vice versa - true, false, other comments
-Most Hindus answering “yea” to “tree hugging tax payer money spending liberal”

Any other comments?

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