Summary
Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA), often referred to as Middle Eastern and North African, communities make up a vibrant and multifaceted population who enrich California’s cultural, economic, and social fabric. Unfortunately, SWANA individuals are often rendered invisible in data collection and public discourse. This report seeks to shine a light on California’s SWANA community, particularly through the lens of five critical issue areas: safety and justice, economic opportunity, health care access, healthy built environment, and housing.
Findings: This report highlights the importance of disaggregated data that allows us to examine the inequities impacting California’s SWANA communities. Without SWANA data, we would not be able to quantify disparities faced by them. For example, we wouldn’t be able to show that SWANA communities are the group most likely to live close to environmental hazards, to have the second highest exposure to contaminated drinking water, and, compared to the average Californian, are more likely to be stopped by police officers. Moreover, we find that at the state level, SWANA communities have worse outcomes compared to white Californians for 12 of the 14 indicators included in this report. While this report represents a large step forward in providing and analyzing data for California’s SWANA community, more SWANA data is needed.
This study uses uses CHIS 2011–2022 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) data.