Asians lead US in college degrees

Among groups of Asian Americans 25 and older, 74% of Taiwanese and 71% of Indians had at least a bachelor's degree.

WASHINGTON: Asians are the most highly educated group of Americans, with more than half with a bachelor's degrees or higher, the Census Bureau reported on Thursday.

Among groups of Asian Americans 25 and older, 74 per cent of Taiwanese and 71 per cent of Indians had at least a bachelor's degree, the agency said as part of its release of American Community Survey data on hundreds of racial, tribal and Hispanic groups.

The comparable figure for the US population overall is 28 per cent. Several Southeast Asian groups fell behind the overall US rate for a bachelor's degree or higher. They included Vietnamese at 26 per cent, Cambodian and Hmong at about 14 per cent and Laotian at 12 per cent. Among all groups surveyed, Salvadorans had the lowest percentage with a bachelor's degree or higher, at 8 per cent.