Of course diversity is a percentage. I have 5 balls that are red, white, blue, yellow and green. You have 500 balls but 250 are white and 250 are red. That doesn't mean you're more diverse than me.
I live in midtown. Most all the people in my apartment are white. Most all the surrounding neighborhoods are black.
All these people saying NYC and London are talking out there a$$. Have not lived in London, but do substantial business there and have lived in UK, it is not as diverse as Houston, I have lived in NY, diverse but not like folks think.
Somewhat related to original post, I'd have to say that in terms of Asian ethnic diversity, Houston should rank close to last. When 70-80 percent are Vietnamese descent and the remaining 20 percent are Filipino and Chinese. Obviously I'm just throwing numbers out there but it's just from my experience of living in Houston for 5 years and it'll be pretty close, give-or-take 5-10 percent. Vietnamese making up 70-80% of Asians is neither indicative of Asian representation in US nor proportionate to Asia; and also unique to Houston. Try LA or NY for a more "diverse" or balanced representation of Asian culture and influences.
It is more diverse than you think. 2000 Census below. The overall numbers are low, probably because they're only counting the city itself and not metro area. But the percentages are probably close enough. Basically, Vietnamese are 31% of the Asians. Chinese are 23.2%. Indians are 19.4%. Filipino are 7.5%. Japanese are 2.4%. Korean are 5.3%.
DIVERSITY : the condition of having or being composed of differing elements : variety; especially : the inclusion of different types of people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization <programs intended to promote diversity in schools>
There is a large Indian/Pakistani population (if you don't believe me, from downtown, take the 59 South, exit Hillcroft & make a right, you will feel like you are in a different world). Not sure why we don't count as "Asian," we are from Asia.
Toronto is an exceptionally diverse city. It doesn't have the Hispanic population that Houston and New York do but it is definitely interesting demographically.
You can also take 290, exit 529 and make a right on Senate, you will be HACKED TO DEATH WITH A PLASTIC SWORD by the dreaded OCP.
Yeah but in my experience many mixed Chinese-Vietnamese people in Houston identify themselves at Chinese. Same with Laos. They will usually say they are Lao even if they are half. Maybe because it is more "unique" in Houston? I don't know. But that's how most of my friends were anyway. And I have a lot of Vietnamese friends in Houston. But that's besides the point, Chinese have the most people in the world and generally in any US city they will dominate population wise in respect to other Asians. So for Vietnamese to be the highest population is very unusual anyway you put it, especially at the ratio you see in Houston. I know there is a huge Indian/Pakistani population in Houston which I know is an obviously significant representation. I was just referencing to a more specific segment of East Asians/Southeast Asians as oppose to ASIA which includes South Asians (Indian/Pakistani/Bengali/Sri Lankan).
It is not unusual considering Houston has the highest Vietnamese population in America behind Orange County. But still not 70%. And the percentage of your friends that consider themselves Chinese are probably ethnically Chinese. There are a lot of Chinese that live in Vietnam and they still very much consider themselves Chinese.
I should add that I am not just interested in ethic diversity but cultural and linguistic diversity also. There are loads of Eastern Europeans in London that would not register in a purely ethnic measure of diversity yet they offer excellent cultural and linguistic diversity.
