For the first time, more Native Hawaiians live outside Hawaii than on the Island paradise.
Hawaii News Now reports the latest census figures released Thursday show 46.7% of Native Hawaiians or part Native Hawaiians live in Hawaii.
It’s a trend that is not a surprise to those who watched it closely.
“This is our families, this is our neighbors, this is our friends. So we felt this trajectory coming a long time ago,” said Kuhio Lewis, CEO of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.
ABC News first reported this back in June based on data from the American Community Survey. That survey found 310,000 Native Hawaiians live on the island compared to 370,000 on the mainland.
While Hawaii is still home to more Native Hawaiians than anywhere else, Las Vegas has the second-largest population. It is often nicknamed the 9th island.
It is home to 40,000 Native Hawaiians.
Cece Cullen and her husband recently moved from their tropical paradise with their two children and bought a home in the desert city.
“We struggle with the fact that we never could do that in Hawaii,” Cullen told ABC News. “We knew that we wanted to be that break and give the future generations the opportunity to really show that it’s possible.”
The cost of living in Hawaii is often cited as the primary reason people leave. The cost of living there is 84% higher and the cost of housing 214% higher.
Those left on the island say they worry about a loss of the island’s identity and culture.
“We have to make sure that we’re providing cultural opportunities for our Native Hawaiians who are living on the continent to ensure that their identity as kanaka, their identity as a people, isn’t lost,” said Jacob Aki, who’s president of the Oahu Council of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, to Hawaii News Now.
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Non natives buying up land driving the prices up and unattainable for the local natives, they are being run off their own lands, just as the Native American Indians were run off their lands by the non natives.