AAPI month celebrates members of the following: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macau, Mongolia, the Paracel Islands, Taiwan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, the Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, the Federated States of Micronesia, New Zealand, the Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, the Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, and Easter Island.

There’s a lot of history and beauty across all those cultures! Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders make up a huge part of our country: According to the last census, there are over 21.5 million members of the AAPI community living in our country—that’s close to 7% of our total population! In Chicagoland alone, there are over 135,000 Asian Americans.

All of that being said, let’s be sure to take some time this month to honor, learn about, and acknowledge the many different members of our AAPI community!