Forces of Nature and Cultural Responses by Katrin Pfeifer & Niki Pfeifer

Author:Katrin Pfeifer & Niki Pfeifer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht

6.2 The State of Hawaii

Today, the State of Hawaii is home to nearly 1.3 million people. In 1960, the population of the Hawaiian Islands which comprise the State of Hawaii was about 632,000 while in 1992 it was around 1.1 million.1 The state includes four counties: the City and County of Honolulu and Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai Counties.2 Honolulu and Hawaii counties are composed of the islands of Oahu and Hawaii, respectively, while Kauai County includes the island of Kauai and the tiny island of Niihau and Maui County includes the islands of Maui and the much more sparsely populated Lanai and Molokai. About 80% of the population lives on the island of Oahu (City and County of Honolulu), while the rest is divided about 8% each in Maui and Hawaii counties and 4% on Kauai.3

Similar to many other islands in the Pacific, tourism is the largest private sector industry today, but in 1960, agriculture and US federal government spending (much of it military related) still dominated the economy, while by 1992, tourism was already the dominant sector that generated most income from outside the state. Although the counties differ in terms of population, they are nonetheless quite similar in terms of their economic activity. In 1960, the year of the Hilo tsunami, the population of each county was 500,409 for the City and County of Honolulu, 61,332 on Hawaii, 42,576 on Maui, and 28,176 on Kauai.

In 1991, the year before Iniki hit Kauai, the resident population of Oahu was 850,500, Hawaii’s population was 127,300, Maui’s was 105,600, and Kauai County’s was 53,400. In the same year, real per capita income (measured in 2012 dollar units) was $39,600 for the City and County of Honolulu, $27,600 for Hawaii County, $32,160 for Maui County, and $31,440 for Kauai County.4 As for visitor arrivals, there were 4.8 million visitors to the City and County of Honolulu, 1.1 million to Hawaii County, 2.2 million to Maui County, and 1.2 million to Kauai County (UHERO 2010).

Although both Kauai and Hawaii counties have a rich agricultural history, plantations throughout the islands have been in rapid decline since the 1970s. Today, agricultural activities account for only a small share of the state’s economy. Currently, most of the federal government’s military presence is on the island of Oahu (11% of Oahu’s total economic activity), and military spending is no longer a dominant aspect of the economy of either Kauai or Hawaii Island.

As the most populated island and the home of state government, Oahu has served as the “hub” of economic activity in the state. For example, in 2005, of the $406 million in exports from Kauai, 60% were directed to Oahu. Only 8% were directed to Hawaii County and 9% to Maui County with the rest being exported out of the state. This is similar for the other neighbor islands, including the island of Hawaii (“big island”)—where Oahu is by far the largest consumer of goods from all the other counties, and it has been this way since the early part of the twentieth century.

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