Online Hispanic Trends

Pew Data on Five Largest Hispanic Populations in U.S.

The Pew Hispanic Center recently published demographic profiles on the five largest Hispanic populations in the U.S. - Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Salvadoran and Dominican.

These detailed reports can be found on Pew's website and provide in-depth data to understand how each of these groups contrasts to the U.S. population as a whole and the overall Hispanic population.

Some interesting data points:

• Mexicans make up over two-thirds of the U.S. Hispanic population, with four in ten living in California.
• The number of Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. and DC is higher (4.1 million) than those living in Puerto Rico (3.9 million), and are the second largest population of Hispanic origin residing in the U.S.
• The share of Cubans who live in poverty (12.3) is much closer to the percentage of the overall U.S. population (11.9%) and below the share among all Hispanics (19.5%). 
• Six in ten Dominicans in the U.S. are foreign born, and eight out of ten live in the Northeast.

Walmart Focuses on Supporting Education for Hispanic Heritage Month

As part of Hispanic Heritage month, Walmart has launched a new campaign entitled "La Mejor Herencia es una Buena Educacion," ("the best heritage is a good education") with the goal of providing information and assistance to help Latinos gain access to higher education.

One component of the program will focus on enhancing www.AhorraMasViveMejor.com by creating a section that will connect parents and students with individuals committed to helping Hispanics achieve a higher education.

The portal will provide information and tools related to standardized tests and college placement exams, scholarship and financial aid, steps on choosing a college, and tips on writing admission essays in both English and Spanish and will be accessible throughout the year.

Read more about the campaign at Reuters.com

Retail Banks Improving Outreach to Spanish-Speakers Online

A recent article in Reuters summarizes interesting research done by Corporate Insight.  The research indicates that 71% of retail banks have added foreign-language content to their websites and are actively reaching out to Spanish-speakers.

Recognizing the growth and increasing affluence of this group and the need to reach out to new markets in a competitive market, a number of banks are taking steps to better serve this market.

As Doug Miller, Senior Analyst for Banking and Cardsat Corporate Insight, says ""Recent immigrants to the United States are often identified as `under-banked, which is unsurprising since most banking information and services have traditionally been offered almost exclusively in English. As the
Spanish-speaking population of this country has grown in both size and affluence, top retail banks have come to recognize the importance of serving this group through Spanish language site content, customer service support and account statements."  

Bank of America and Citibank lead the pack when it comes to having fully functional Spanish-language websites. 

View additional details on what other banks are doing in the original Reuter's article.