Bangladeshi Americans in the USA

Bangladeshi immigrants in the USA are known as Bangladeshi Americans. In the USA, you will find a large number of Bangladeshi people. Immigration to the USA from this region has started since the British period. Interestingly, two-thirds of Bangladeshi immigrants have been living in New York City only.

As of 2014, the number of Bangladeshi Americans is 0.046% of the total population of the USA. Most of them have been living in the New York metropolitan area, New Jersey, California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Immigration to the USA from Bangladesh started in the 1880s. After getting independence in 1971, 154 Bangladeshis migrated to the USA. Most of them arrived there as workers. Before arriving in the United States, they worked on a number of ships docking. During the 1970s, immigration to the United States from Bangladesh was going slowly.

Immigration began increasing in the 1980s. Since then, the number is still increasing and it can be guessed that this immigration will be increasing in the Future Days as well. Before 1980, over 15000 Bangladeshi lived in New York City. In 1970, some Bangladeshi Americans left New York to escape expensive livelihoods. But most of them returned to New York and Patterson.

In 1997, Texas Bangladesh Association was formed with 500 members. It is really interesting to say that in 1997, there were 5000 Bangladeshi Americans in Dallas who arranged the Baisakhi Mela. During that time most of the Bangladeshi migrants in the USA were taxi drivers and the rest worked in different intellectual professions.

How many Bangladeshis in USA?

Many Bangladeshis live in the United States like other countries in the world. But do you know exactly how many Bangladeshis live in the United States? According to the US Census Bureau, there were around 208,000 Bangladeshis living in the United States as of 2019.

Interestingly, most of them live only in New York City. According to a survey, 250,000 Bangladeshi-Americans live in New York City alone. According to a 2014 census, 0.046% of the total population of the United States is of Bangladeshi descent.

However, let’s see the data from Pew Research Center. According to them, the number of Bangladeshi descent people in the United States was 57000 in 2000. And in 2010 this number increased to 147,000.

Then in 2015, the number of Bangladeshi descent American people was 188,000. Then over the next four years, this number grew at a comparatively lower rate. According to their latest data for 2019, the number is 2 lakh 8 thousand.

Most of the Bangladeshis living in the USA have good English proficiency. According to an analysis by Pew Research Center, 55% of Bangladeshi-Americans have good proficiency in English. Of those born in the United States, 87% are fluent in English.

Who are the famous Bangladeshi Americans in USA?

In recent times, a number of Bangladeshi entrepreneurs have emerged in the United States. You know that it is not impossible to list all the famous Bangladeshi Americans in this article. However, this is our smallest attempt to introduce you to some of the well-known and famous Bangladeshi Americans. Hope you will be enjoying it.

Jawed Karim

If you talk about the richest or the most successful Bangladeshi American, then Jawed Karim's name will come automatically. You have to admit that YouTube is at the top of the social media crowd at the moment. YouTube came holding the hands of three people. Jawed Karim is one of them. He is a co-founder of youtube.

You would be really surprised to hear that videos are currently viewed more than three billion times a day on YouTube and an average of 48 hours of video are uploaded per minute. It cost them $11.5 million to create YouTube. But the funny thing is that in just one year of making YouTube, Google bought it for $1.65 billion. Jawed Karim grew up in Germany until he was 13 years old. Her father is an expatriate Bangladeshi and her mother is a German by birth. Jabed studied computer science at Stanford University in the United States.

Dr. Maksudul Alam

Dr. Maksudul Alam was a well-known Bangladeshi American theorist. He successfully unveiled the gene design of jute in 2010 in a joint effort of a team of researchers. In addition, he invented the genes of rubber and papaya. At home and abroad he is admired as a gene theorist. He was born in 1914 in the Faridpur district. From a very young age, he had a great interest in science.

Dr. Maksudul Alam passed Secondary from Government Laboratory High School and Higher Secondary from Dhaka College. In 1998, he completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in microbiology from Moscow State University, as well as his Ph.D. He then had the opportunity to work with two famous German researchers.

He eventually joined the University of Hawaii in the United States. There he was assistant director of the Marine Bioproducts Engineering Center. At that time, he received $1 million from the National Science Foundation of the United States and some other organizations. Interestingly, in 1992, he joined the university as an assistant professor of microbiology.

He then became a professor in 2001. From then until his death, he was a professor at the university. He and some of his colleagues discovered a new type of protein, called myoglobin, in the bacterium in 2000 while working at the Marine Bioproducts Engineering Center. Through this, he gained recognition at home and abroad.

He then unveiled a special papaya gene design in the United States. He then discovered the design of the jute gene in 2010 in a joint effort by a team of researchers at the Jute Research Institute, Dhaka University, and an IT institute. He died in 2014 at Queen's Medical Center in Hawaii, USA.

Omar Ishrak

Omar Ishrak is an American business executive of Bangladeshi descent. He has been the CEO of Medtronic since 2011 and the current chairman of Intel since 2020. He was born in Bangladesh and grew up in this country. Omar Israk passed secondary and higher secondary from St. Joseph School and College. He later earned a bachelor's degree and a Ph.D. from King's College London. He currently resides in Minneapolis, USA.

Abdus Sattar Khan

Abdus Sattar Khan is a famous space researcher in Bangladesh. He is a Bangladeshi American. These scientists have invented over forty alloys while working at NASA United Technologies and Alstom. This alloy makes the engine lighter so that the aircraft can develop faster.

He has contributed in many ways during his lifetime. For this, he has received numerous awards from the American Air Force NASA, Alstom, and United Technology. He was born in 1941 in the Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh. He completed his secondary and higher secondary education from Ratanpur High School and Comilla Victoria College respectively.

He then obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees from Dhaka University. He then joined Dhaka University as a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry. Then in 1964, he wanted to pursue a higher degree at Oxford University through a scholarship. He returned to the country in 1968 after earning a doctorate in chemistry from Oxford University. He then returned to the United States to study metallurgical engineering.

In 1986, he joined NASA's Lewis Research Center. There he studied the alloys used in rocket engines and invented a high-strength nickel-based alloy. Not to mention his contribution to science!

He was involved in a variety of service activities in the United States. The Bangladesh Organization was established in Florida, the USA by his hand. He has also worked there as a local organizer of Asians. When the catastrophic floods hit Bangladesh in 1999, he collected $61,000 and sent it to Bangladesh. He died in the United States in 2008.
Some other notable Bangladeshi Americans are:

• Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman - A former minister in Peterson, New Jersey
• Jalal Alamgir - Professor and Political Expert
• Kali S. Banerjee - Professor and Statistician
• Hensen Clark - Former United States Congressman
• Mohammad Ataul Karim - Electrical Engineer
• Sezan Mahmud - Medal-winning novelist
• Badal Roy - Recording artist, and tabla player
• Asif Azam Siddique - Assistant Professor at Fordham University, New York
• Monica Yunus - Bangladeshi American opera artist
• Mr. Masum Ali - Eminent Professor of Statistics, Ball State University
• Anika Rahman - CEO of MS. Foundation for Women

Where do most Bangladeshi live in USA?

You will see Bangladeshi immigrants from about 50 states in the United States. But not all states are conducive to the people of Bangladesh. Because everywhere there are opportunities, rules and regulations are not the same. According to various organizations, San Francisco tops the list of favorites for Bangladeshis. After that, more and more people prefer to live in Chicago, New York, San Jose, and Washington DC, respectively.

However, according to various surveys, it is clear that most of the Bangladeshi immigrants in the United States live in New York City. More than one lakh Bangladeshis live in New York City in the United States. In other words, it can be clearly said that the number of Bangladeshi immigrants in New York City is comparatively much higher than in other cities in the United States.

It is true that living in New York City is relatively expensive. Even after that, Bangladeshi Americans are choosing this city as their home. Of course, this may be due to the facilities and improved living conditions here.

Of course, there is another reason why so many Bangladeshis chose New York City to live in the United States. Most Americans of Bangladeshi descent are Muslims. In other words, it is clear that Bangladeshi Americans will choose to live in a city with adequate mosques and a religious environment. This may be one of the reasons why Bangladeshi immigrants choose to live in New York City.

Bangladeshi Community in New York

According to various surveys, most Bangladeshi Americans live in New York City, USA. According to the 1970 census, the number of Bangladeshi immigrants in New York was 4955. As of 2000, the number was 28,269. Then according to the statistics of 2010, the number of Bangladeshi immigrants in New York was 50 thousand 677 people.

You've probably heard of Jackson Heights, a neighborhood in Queens, New York City, where the number of Bangladeshi Americans is growing. Here you will find many Bangladeshi clothes shops and grocery stores. You will also hear the names Elmhurst and Woodside next to Jackson Heights. These two places are very attractive to Bangladeshi immigrants nowadays.

You will find several Bangladeshi grocery stores and restaurants in the center of HillSide Avenue and along 169 Street. If you ever visit here you will actually think of a map of small Bangladesh in the middle of New York City. Kabir’s Bakery, Gharoa, Deshi Shaad, Sagar Restaurant are well known and quite popular in the Bengali community all over New York.

The number of Bangladeshi Americans is increasing day by day in Brooklyn and Queens of New York. Many Bangladeshis own pharmaceutical companies in New York and employ people of Bangladeshi descent in those companies on a priority basis.

Contributions of Bangladeshi Americans to the United States

Many Americans of Bangladeshi descent are currently contributing to various fields in the United States. You will see many Bangladeshi entrepreneurs, intellectuals, government employees, diplomats, writers, media workers, journalists, and people of other professions in the United States. They are each contributing to the United States from their own position. Abul Hussain and Maksudul Alam are glorifying the United States through many scientists and their discoveries.

In addition, many entrepreneurs of Bangladeshi descent, such as Jawed Karim, have made significant contributions to the US economy through innovative initiatives. Besides, many are teaching in different educational institutions. In the United States, you may have heard the names of several well-known Bangladeshi professors. They are teaching with distinction at various American universities.

Not only that but some Bangladeshi immigrants continue to contribute to the field of literature. For example, the name of Roman Alam can be mentioned. He is a medal-winning Bangladeshi American novelist. There is also no chance of underestimating any profession. All immigrants of Bangladeshi descent continue to contribute to the United States in one way or another.