 Hawaii owes much of its charm and potential to its ethnic diversity. Perhaps nowhere on earth is there such potential for correcting the previous nationalistic mistakes of mankind and healing the human spirit. There is much for the world to learn from Hawaii.The population of Hawaii is 1,200,000 with most people residing on Oahu. The 1990 US census put Oahu’s population at 836,231. Honolulu accounts for 377,059 people. The population is 24% Japanese, 24% Caucasian, 18% part-Hawaiian (less than 1% pure Hawaiian), 11% Filipino, 6% Chinese and 2% Black, with numerous other Pacific and Asian minorities.
Approximately 14% of Oahu’s residents are members of the armed forces or their dependents.
The population of the Big Island was 120,317 in 1990. Hilo has about a third of the island’s population, but the Big Island’s demographics are changing rapidly.
The Big Island’s ethnic breakdown is 26% part-Hawaiian, 25% Caucasian, 22% Japanese, 12% mixed non-Hawaiian and 10% Filipino. Full-blooded Hawaiians make up just 1% of the population.
According to the 1990 US census, the population of Kauai is 50,947. People of part-Hawaiian ethnicity make up 24% of Kauai’s population, followed by Filipino (22%), Japanese (21%) and Caucasian (18%).
Lanai’s population is 2,500 and has seen some dramatic rises and falls in its population. Most residents of Lanai live in Lanai City. The largest ethnic group is Filipino (51%), followed by Japanese (18%), Caucasian (11%) and part-Hawaiian (9.2%).
Maui has a population of 88,100. Ethnically. 26% of the population is Caucasian. 18°% Japanese, 14% Filipino and 2% Hawaiian. About one-third of Maui’s residents consider themselves to be of ‘mixed blood’, with two-thirds of these having some Hawaiian ancestry.
Molokai’s population is 7000 and Molokai is the most Hawaiian of the islands outside of Ni'ihau. Almost 50% of its people are Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian. Filipino is the next largest ethnic group, followed by the usual mixture. |
The Islands 
