Elite Muslim and Hindu population emigrate to America: PEW

With nearly 14 years of schooling, Muslim Americans ahead of US average

Muslims and Hindus who emigrated to the United States over recent years are remarkably qualified, a new survey by the PEW Research Center has revealed.

Hindus in the US have near 16 years of schooling on average, making them most highly educated followed by Jews. With nearly 14 years of schooling, Muslim Americans are also ahead of the US average.



However, high education levels among Hindus and Muslims is divergent to education levels of the communities elsewhere across the world, where they constitute the two least educated religious groups. The high level of education of the communities is peculiar to the US, according to the study.

"Hindus and Muslims in the United States are a pretty elite segment of the global Hindu and Muslim population," Pew demographic researcher Conrad Hackett says.

Due to comparatively high levels of education, they succeed in acquiring high-paying jobs.

"A lot of people, when they look at Asian Americans and their relative success, say there's something about Asian culture…[But] if you look at culture in Asia, it doesn't predict the same level of success. So we have to look for answers elsewhere," Karthick Ramakrishnan, a political scientist and immigration expert at the University of California, Riverside notes.

So how can the trend be explained?

Hackett says the emigrating population is probably among the most privileged in their native countries. "They've had to travel to the United States, perhaps at considerable cost,” he said. Further, Hackett explains that Muslim and Hindu immigrants "have to deal with US migration policies, which in many cases favor people who have skills that they have acquired through considerable education."



This sets them apart from the immigrants from Mexico or Central America, who can even move to the United States bypassing immigration formalities.

PEW also found that the difference in schooling levels between Hindus and Muslims worldwide and in the United States may be shrinking with education levels for both communities improving the world over.

This article originally appeared on NPR.