A new Census Bureau report
puts the 2000 count at 1.2 million
with Maui up the most

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

The state of Hawaii has a population of about 1.2 million people, up nearly 10 percent from a decade ago, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released today.

The 2000 Census figures show Hawaii's population grew 9.3 percent to 1,211,537 from 1,108,229 in 1990. By county, Maui County grew the most up 27.6 percent from a decade ago, to 128,094 residents from 100,374. Within that area, Kihei's population increased 50 percent.

Linda Lingle, a former Maui mayor and former Hawaii Republican gubernatorial candidate, said today the increase in Maui County was not suprising.

"People want to be there -- it's sort of got it all," Lingle said. "It's got the rural lifestyle, but its got a beautiful art center, top restaurants in the state. It's a really great place to live."

Honolulu registered the least growth by county, at 4.8 percent. The city has 876,156 people as of last year.

Other areas across the state the saw population shifts are Kailua and Kaneohe, which are down 0.8 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. The Schofield Barracks area had the most loss in residents, own 26.4 percent.

Next to Kihei, the Makakilo/Kapolei area had the most growth at 33.9 percent from 1990.

The race data shows Asians continue to be the majority of the population in the state, comprising 503,868 people or 41.6 percent of the state's population last year. Caucasians numbered 294,102, or 24.3 percent of the total population, while those who classified themselves as native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders numbered 113,539, or 9.4 percent.

Another 259,343 people identified themselves as being of two or more races, 21.4 percent or more than one-fifth of the state's population.

Census 2000 showed there were 22,003 African American people living in Hawaii, while 15,147 people listed some other race than listed in the Census.

The total number of people who claimed to have some Hawaiian blood was 282,667.

The Census Bureau delivered the data today to Gov. Ben Cayetano and the majority and minority leaders of the state Legislature. The data will allow state officials to realign congressional and state legislative districts, taking into account population shifts from the last census in 1990.