<P> The demographics of Asian Americans describe a heterogeneous group of people in the United States who trace their ancestry to one or more Asian countries . Because Asian Americans total about 5.6% of the entire US population, diversity within the group is often overlooked in media treatment . </P> <P> The first recorded Asian Americans in the continental United States were a group of Filipino men who established the small settlement of Saint Malo, Louisiana, after fleeing mistreatment aboard Spanish ships . Since there were no women with them, the Manilamen, as they were known, married Cajun and Native American women . In 1778, Chinese and European explorers first arrived in Hawaii . Numerous Chinese and Japanese began immigrating to the US in the mid-19th century; numerous Chinese immigrants worked as laborers on the First Transcontinental Railroad, many who immigrated due to overpopulation and poverty experienced in Canton Province . In the mid-20th century, refugees from Southeast Asia fled wars in the homelands to come to the United States . Most Asian Americans who immigrated to the United States arrived after 1965, due to immigration reform that ended an earlier era of exclusion of Asian immigrants . </P>

What percentage of the united states is asian