Asian-Pacific American Asian-Pacific American is a term that was used in the United States to include both Asian Americans and Americans of Pacific Islander American due to its official use as a race on the United States Census between the years 1990 and 2000 . Since 2000 the United States Census Bureau has split these two groups apart because the majority of the people included in the term considered themselves to be two separate groups when questioned by the anthropologists who designed the racial definitions for the 2000 US Census . Now , Asian American and Pacific Islanders are two separate races on the US Census 2000 , so the term Asian-Pacific American has decreased in use . The Asian and Pacific Islander Student Center at CSU Pomona defines an `` Asian & Pacific Islander '' as someone with ancestry from West , Central , North , East , Southeast , and East Asia and someone whose ancestry is from the Pacific Islands . See also Asian American Pacific Islander American Asian Pacific American Heritage Month External links A|P|A Histories web site Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs ( CAPAA ) , Washington State . Asian Pacific American Census Facts and Figures on the site of the Washington , D.C. Department of Health Asian Pacific Americans Pacific Americans in US Census of Asian Pacific Americans Pacific American Schoalarship References ^ CSU Pomona . Asian and Pacific Islander Student Center. 2006 . This article related to an ethnic group is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . This Hawai'i -related article is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . Categories : Asian American issues | Ethnic groups in the United States | Hawaiian culture | Ethnic group stubs | Hawaii stubs 