East Harlem is located on the North East part of Manhattan in New York City. It is a culturally diverse area composed mainly of Latin American communities with origins from Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Salvador. There is a fair number of Italian Americans in East Harlem and the past few years have seen a dramatic increase in the Chinese American community. The second most predominant community in the area after the Latin American community is the African American community. This paper examines the demographics of this culturally cosmopolitan area, relying on data from 1980 to the present day.
Harbouring 110,882 people, the 1.467 square mile area is one of the most densely populated regions in New York with a population density of 75,588 people per square mile(Citydata.com, 2016). The predominant community in East Harlem is the Hispanic communi
...ty. This community, comprising of Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Dominicans and Salvadorans makes up 47% of the 110,882 people residing in the area("Population of East Harlem, New York, New York", 2016). 33% is the African American community which is the second largest community followed by the Caucasian community which accounts for 11% of the entire population and the Asian community which accounts for 5 %("Population of East Harlem, New York, New York", 2016).58% of the population is female while 52% is male (Citydata.com, 2016).
While a most of the residents of East Harlem are born in America, a good percentage are foreign born immigrants, with approximately 21% of the entire population being foreign born residents. Of these, 68% come from South American countries, 15% from Asian countries, 7% from European countries and 7% from African countries("Race and Ethnicit
in East Harlem, New York, New York", 2016). There are also residents from Australia and other countries at percentages below 1% and whose data can be considered as negligible. Population index by country of origin indicates to most of the foreign residents coming from Mexico at 27%, followed by the Dominican Republic at 19%, China at 7% and Ecuador at 6%("Race and Ethnicity in East Harlem, New York, New York", 2016). A proliferation of Chinese Americans in the area has been occasioned by the increased migration of the Chines American community from China Town to Harlem in recent years. Others countries represented in the index are Colombia, Honduras, Japan, Korea, Philippines and Bangladesh in descending order.
38% of all Harlem residents live below the poverty line ("East Harlem", 2016). Indicating that they spend less than 2 dollars every day. Only 26% of the residents over the age of 25 have a college degree ("East Harlem", 2016). Of the rest, 39% have high school diplomas while 33% do not ("Educational Attainment in East Harlem, New York, New", 2016). Perhaps as a consequence of this, only 46% of the people between 25 and 64 are formally employed in East Harlem ("Employment Status in East Harlem, New York, New York", 2016). Of the rest, 7% are unemployed and the rest are informally employed, working odd casual jobs ("Employment Status in East Harlem, New York, New York", 2016). There is a high prevalence for crime and drug and substance abuse due to the high unemployment rate and poverty.
References
- CityData.com, East Harlem neighborhood in New York, New York (NY), 10029, 10035 subdivision profile - real estate, apartments, condos, homes, community, population,
jobs, income, streets. (2016). City-data.com. Retrieved 29 September 2016, from http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/East-Harlem-New-York-NY.html
(2016). Statisticalatlas.com. Retrieved 29 September 2016, from http://statisticalatlas.com/neighborhood/New-York/New-York/East-Harlem/Age-and-Sex
