2002 National Survey of Latinos

2002 NATIONAL SURVEY OF LATINOS
THE PEW HISPANIC CENTER/KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION

The following material is excerpted from the survey taken between April-June 2002 and published in December 2002. The full report, charts, and tables can be found at: http://www.diversityresources.com/pdf/LatinoSurveyReportFinal.pdf and http://www.diversityresources.com/pdf/LatinoChartpackFinal.pdf

The narrative is by Diversity Resources, Inc.

Diversity of the Hispanic Population

The Hispanic population is itself very diverse. Hispanics come from many different countries, have distinct cultural patterns, and express unique linguistic characteristics. The following chart gives some idea of the composition of the population included under the general term, “Hispanic”.

	Population	Percent of Total
Total Hispanic Population	35.3 million	100%
Mexican origin	20.6 million	60%
Central and South American origin	10 million	28%
Puerto Rican origin	3.4 million	9%
Cuban origin	1.2 million	3%

Excerpted by Diversity Resources, Inc. from data from the United States Census 2000.
The Hispanic Population (C2KBR/01-3)

Nevertheless, the longer Hispanic immigrants are in the United States, the more likely it is that they will refer to themselves as either Hispanic or Latino instead of using their country of origin. By the third generation, more Hispanics refer to themselves as “American” than by any other term. The following table illustrates this trend.

TERMS LATINOS USE TO DESCRIBE THEMSELVES

Term used	Own or Parent’s country of origin	Hispanic or Latino	American
Total Latinos	88 percent	81 percent	53 percent
Foreign-born	95 percent	85 percent	32 percent
Native-born	74 percent	74 percent	90 percent
1st Generation	95 percent	85 percent	32 percent
2nd Generation	82 percent	77 percent	85 percent
3rd Generation	66 percent	72 percent	97 percent

Excerpted from Chart 4, National Survey of Latinos

PREFERENCE AMONG LATINOS FOR USING “LATINO” VS “HISPANIC”

PREFERENCE	NO PREFERENCE	PREFER “LATINO”	PREFER “HISPANIC”
PERCENT	53 percent	13 percent	34 percent

Excerpted from Chart 6, National Survey of Latinos

One of the key issues affecting assimilation of Hispanics into the broader culture is whether or not they view themselves as forming one coherent cultural group. The following chart indicates that most Hispanics surveyed believe that those coming from different countries have distinct cultures.

ONE CULTURE OR MANY

Hispanics from different cultures all have separate and distinct cultures	85 percent
Hispanics from different countries share one Hispanic/Latino culture	14 percent

Excerpted from Chart 9, National Survey of Latinos

Spanish vs English as the dominant language

One of the reasons that might make the path of Hispanic assimilation different than that of previous ethnic groups is that all Hispanics share Spanish as a common language. Given this fact, how long does the dominance of Spanish or English persist from foreign to native-born, and from one generation to the next? As the chart below indicates, Spanish is more dominant among foreign-born than native-born Hispanics, but this dominance declines over generations.

PRIMARY LANGUAGE AMONG LATINOS

	Spanish-Dominant	Bilingual	English-Dominant
Total Latinos	47 percent	28 percent	25 percent
Foreign-born	72 percent	24 percent	4 percent
Native-born	4 percent	35 percent	61 percent
1st Generation	72 percent	24 percent	4 percent
2nd Generation	7 percent	47 percent	46 percent
3rd Generation and Higher		22 percent	78 percent

Excerpted from Chart 2, National Survey of Latinos

In addition to the preference of Hispanics for English the longer they stay in the United States, Hispanics also express a strong belief in the need to learn English in order to succeed.

ENGLISH AS NECESSARY FOR SUCCESS

LATINOS	NEED TO LEARN ENGLISH	CAN SUCCEED WITH SPANISH ONLY
Total Latinos	89 percent	10 percent
Foreign-born	91 percent	8 percent
Native-born	86 percent	12 percent
Spanish-dominant	92 percent	7 percent
Bilingual	88 percent	11 percent
English-dominant	86 percent	12 percent

Excerpted from Chart 12, National Survey of Latinos

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