Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 4, 1 Mei 1984 — Preliminary Survey Report Prepared [ARTICLE]

Preliminary Survey Report Prepared

By Wendy Hee Planning and Development Offieer A preliminary report on the Hawaiian population by blood quantum, based on figures from the State Department of Health, has been prepared by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Of the 182,870 Hawaiians in the State, 27 percent or 49,026 persons are native Hawaiian (by federal definition, 50 percent or more Hawaiian blood) and 73 percent or 1 33,844 are less than50 percent Hawaiian, according to the report. Of the native Hawaiians, 8,291 persons are 100 percent Hawaiian. Prepared by Sociologist Dave Johnson, Ph.D., the preliminary report presents findings prior to the availability of data from OHA's 1984 Population Survey/Needs Assessment project whieh is currently underway to determine needs of Hawaiians and the distribution of the Hawaiian population by age, sex, geographieal area, as well as by the proportion of Hawaiian ancestry. Johnson is heading the 1984 survey. This preliminary report is based on supplemental data from the 1983 HeaUh Surveillance Program of the State Department of Heahh. Previously, respondents had been asked to give their parents' race. not noting the proportion. Now, for the first time, respondents of the survey were asked to give the "proportion" of H awaiian ancestry for eaeh of their parents. Johnson then applied this latest 1983 supplemental data by county (Table 1), age (Table II), and sex (Table III) to the 1982 Heakh Survey population figures.

(The 1983 Health Survey data is not yet available.) The preliminary report found that 19. 1 percent of the total population of the State has some Hawaiian ancestry. Of the 182,870 HawaiiansintheState, Honolulu County has 129,223 (17.5 percent of its population), Hawaii County has 25,940 (26.9 percent of its population), Maui County has 19,271 (24.4 percent of its population), and Kauai County has 8,436 (20.9 percent of its population). Therefore, although most Hawaiians live in Honolulu County, Hawaii County has the highest representative of Hawaiians in its population and Honolulu has the smallest representation. In these Hawaiian populations, the report found that Kauai has the smallest proportion of native Hawaiians, 22.9 percent; and Maui County has the Iargest proportion of native Hawaiians, 37.7 percent due to the heavy concentration of native Hawaiians on Molokai. Honolulu and Hawaii Counties have 25.3 percent and 27.7 percent. respectively. Comparing age distributions the report found that Hawaiians are younger than the State population in general. However. within the Hawaiian population. there is a shift towards the older ages for native Hawaiians whieh in fact is similar for the total State population. This contrasts with the markedly younger population of Hawaiians with less than 50% Hawaiian ancestry. Looking at the total Hawaiian population by gender distribution, the preliminary report found that 89,440 or48.9

percent are females and 51.1 percent or 93,430 are males. The total State population has 50.1 percent males. For native Hawaiians, 46.9 percent are males; and for those who are less than half Hawaiian, 52.6 percent are males. Thus the native Hawaiian population has a larger proportion of females as eompared with the Hawaiian population with less than half Hawaiian ancestry.

Johnson says the difference in sex distribution between the two categories of Hawaiians ean be partly explained by the differences in the age distributions. The native Hawaiians are older than the Hawaiians with less than 50 percent Hawaiian ancestry. 01der populations generally have more females and younger populations more males.

I. TOTAL AND H AWAllAN POPULAT!ON BY BLOOD QUANTUM ^ AND COUNTY Hawaiians Native Hawaiians Total Hawaiian as%ofTotal as % of Hawaiian County Population Population Population Population OAHU 740,382 129,223 17.5% 25.3% HAWAII 96,382 25,940 26.9% 27.7% MAUl 78,961 19,271 24.4% 37.7% KAUAl 40,393 8.436 20.9% 22.9% STATE 956,118 182,870 19.1% 26.8% II. TOTAL AND HAWAIIAN POPULATION BY AGE AND BLOOD QUANTUM Total Hawaiian Native Less than 50% Years Population Population Hawaiians Hawaiian Blood 0-29 52.6% 67.9% 55.4% 73.2% 30-59 35.1% 26.0% 32.8% 23.2% 60+ 12.2% 5.6% 10.8% 3.6% Total* 100.0% 100.0% 100.90% 100.0% *Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding. III. TOTAL AND HAWAIIAN POPULAĪION BY AGE AND BLOOD QUANTUM Total Hawaiian Native Less than 50% Gender Population Population Hawaiians Hawaiian Blood Female 49.9% 48.9% 53.1% 47.4% Male 50.1% 51.1% 46.9% 52.6% Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%