U.S. Arab Population Doubled over 20 Years

America’s Arab population totaled 1.19 million people in 2000, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released yesterday, up from 610,000 in 1980 and 860,000 in 1990 and making up about 0.42 percent of the country’s 281.4 million people.

The report, titled “We the People of Arab Ancestry in the United States,” counts 850,000 people who reported only Arab ancestry and 340,000 who claimed partial Arab ancestry.

Of the total Arab population, the report says, Lebanese led with 440,279, followed by Syrians (142,897), Egyptians (142,832), Palestinians (72,112), Jordanians (39,734), Moroccans (38,923) and Iraqis (37,714). The report says 205,822 identified themselves only as “Arab or Arabic” and 82,337 described their ancestors as “other Arab group.” Some respondents reported more than one ancestry.

{snip}