Nearly half of Pacific Islander adults in the United States experienced a hate act in 2024 because of their race, ethnicity or nationality, according to a new national survey released on Wednesday by Stop AAPI Hate.
The report, “Unsettled Waters: Anti-Pacific Islander Hate Amid Ongoing Injustice,” found that 47% of Pacific Islander adults said they experienced at least one hate act last year. Harassment such as racial slurs was the most common form, followed by unfair treatment by an employer or business, physical harm or unwanted contact, and property damage.
The report is based on a 2025 national survey of 504 PI adults conducted with NORC at the University of Chicago, hate act reports submitted to Stop AAPI Hate’s reporting center, as well as insights from Stop AAPI Hate’s advisory council of Pacific Islander community leaders and experts.
“Pacific Islander communities are too often overlooked in society, by our government, and even among AAPI communities – and this has been the case for generations,” said Connie Tan, data and research manager at Stop AAPI Hate. “This imposed invisibility exacerbates the harmful impact of hate acts that Pacific Islander people experience—and it is, in and of itself, a form of anti-PI discrimination on a systemic level.”
Adults ages 18 to 29 reported the highest prevalence, with 62% saying they experienced hate in 2024. By comparison, 43% of those ages 30 to 44, 35% of those ages 45 to 59, and 44% of those 60 and older reported similar experiences.
Researchers said younger adults may face greater exposure because they spend more time online and in public or school settings, which were among the most common locations for hate incidents.
Compared with Asian American respondents, Pacific Islanders were significantly more likely to report hate in workplaces, schools, health care settings and places of worship, even after accounting for demographic differences.
“I was sharing about my home, Guam, and how we are a U.S. territory. A woman stated that my culture is insignificant, I’m a foreigner, and an ingrate,” said one survey respondent who’s a CHamoru woman.
Another survey respondent—a Polynesian — said, “They called me a Samoan sea n-gg-r outlaw.”
The report also found that hate incidents often targeted more than race alone. Sixty-six percent of Pacific Islander adults who experienced hate said it involved other aspects of their identity, including age, class or gender.
The impact on health was significant. Fifty-eight percent of Pacific Islander adults who experienced hate reported negative effects on their mental or physical well-being. Forty-one percent showed moderate or severe symptoms of anxiety or depression, compared with 17% among those who did not experience hate.
Despite the prevalence, most incidents went unreported. About 61% of Pacific Islander adults who experienced hate said they did not report it to a formal authority such as police, human resources departments or civil rights agencies. One-quarter said they did not tell anyone, including friends or family.
The most common reasons for not reporting were believing it would not make a difference, fear of unwanted attention and the perception that the incident was not serious enough.
API Advocates Executive Director Isa Kelawili Whalen, who’s on Stop AAPI Hate’s PI Advisory Council, said, “Leadership, media, and society at large need to make a stronger effort to evaluate and address the specific challenges and harms Pacific Islander people face. Only then can our communities begin to heal from generations of colonization, militarization, and displacement—and stop acts of hate against us from reoccurring.”
You can read the full report here.
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