Vietnamese Americans

Demographics and Migration Waves

Vietnamese Americans constitute the largest Vietnamese community outside Vietnam. The first group that arrived in the United States immediately after 1975 was made up of mostly political elites, military personnel, and other individuals affiliated with the French and former South Vietnamese governments. By the end of 1975, they numbered 130,000. By 1980, the Vietnamese population in the United States had nearly doubled, to approximately 245,000, as a result of the arrival of the second group, known as “boat refugees,” who were mostly businessmen, Chinese, and middle-class families.

Thereafter, the U.S. government institutionalized a humanitarian program to facilitate the resettlement of mostly Amerasians (people of mixed Vietnamese and American blood) and formerly detained Vietnamese military servicemen and their families. As a result, the Vietnamese American population grew to 615,000 by 1990. It jumped to approximately 1.2 million by 2000. Today, the Vietnamese American population is relatively stable. Its growth is mostly the result of U.S.-born children and Vietnamese who arrived through family unification programs. As of 2010, Vietnamese in the United States constituted 1.6 million, making them the fourth-largest Asian American group.

Vietnamese have been keen on rebuilding and maintaining their religious communities in the United States. For them, religious institutions have served as a primary community gathering center where they could reconnect with each other and transition to life in America. However, to successfully adapt their religious practices to the American multicultural landscape and lifestyle, Vietnamese Americans have had to make strategic changes.

Buddhists

Approximately 65 percent of all Vietnamese Americans are Buddhists. Most of them are associated with Mahayana Buddhist temples attended mostly by other Vietnamese. As in the homeland, [Page 2139]Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist temples operate as semi-independent institutions. The lack of centralization has created spaces for greater diversities and adoption of new forms of Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist practices on American soil. For example, unlike in Vietnam, Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist temples do not strictly follow the lunar calendar to celebrate religious holidays. Instead, they hold their holidays on days and times that can accommodate the availability of members of their congregations. Another major difference compared with temples in Vietnam is the varied availability of abbots to their communities. Because abbots in the United States have to work, the opening hours of Vietnamese Buddhist temples are unpredictable and depend on the abbots’ availability. These strategic forms of adaptation have allowed Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhism to flourish and contribute to American cultural diversity.

Catholics

As many as 35 percent of all Vietnamese Americans are Catholic, which is proportionally greater than in Vietnam, where Catholics constitute about 8 percent of the country's population. The over-representation among the overseas group is most likely because many were affiliated with the former Catholic-led government of South Vietnam and feared religious discrimination under communism in Vietnam after 1975.

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