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Whites could be minority in United States by 2043
Source: Agencies |
December 14, 2012, Friday
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WHITE people will no longer make up a majority of Americans by 2043, according to new census projections.
The official projection, released on Wednesday by the Census Bureau, says the United States continues to grow and become more diverse due to higher birth rates among minorities, particularly Hispanics who entered the US at the height of the immigration boom in the 1990s and early 2000s. Since the mid-2000 housing bust, however, the arrival of new immigrants from Mexico and other nations has slowed from its once-torrid pace.
The country's changing demographic mosaic has stark political implications, shown clearly in last month's election that gave President Barack Obama a second term - in no small part due to support from 78 percent of non-white voters.
There are social and economic ramifications, as well. Longstanding fights over civil rights and racial equality are going in new directions, promising to reshape race relations and common notions of being a "minority."
White plaintiffs now before the Supreme Court argue that special protections for racial and ethnic minorities dating back to the 1960s may no longer be needed, from affirmative action in college admissions to the Voting Rights Act, designed for states with a history of disenfranchising blacks.
Residential segregation has eased and intermarriage for first and second-generation Hispanics and Asians is rising, blurring racial and ethnic lines.
Unpublished 2010 census figures show that millions of people shunned standard race categories such as black or white on government forms, opting to write in their own cultural or individual identities.
By 2060, multiracial people are projected to more than triple, from 7.5 million to 26.7 million - rising even faster and rendering notions of race labels increasingly irrelevant, experts say.
The non-Hispanic white population, now at 197.8 million, is projected to peak at 200 million in 2024, before entering a steady decline in absolute numbers as the massive baby boomer generation enters its golden years. Four years after that, racial and ethnic minorities will become a majority among adults 18-29.
By 2000, the percentage of US whites had slid to 69 percent; it's now nearly 64 percent.
The US has nearly 315 million people today. According to the census projections, the US population will cross the 400 million mark in 2051, 12 years later than previously projected. The population will hit 420.3 million a half century from now in 2060.
The official projection, released on Wednesday by the Census Bureau, says the United States continues to grow and become more diverse due to higher birth rates among minorities, particularly Hispanics who entered the US at the height of the immigration boom in the 1990s and early 2000s. Since the mid-2000 housing bust, however, the arrival of new immigrants from Mexico and other nations has slowed from its once-torrid pace.
The country's changing demographic mosaic has stark political implications, shown clearly in last month's election that gave President Barack Obama a second term - in no small part due to support from 78 percent of non-white voters.
There are social and economic ramifications, as well. Longstanding fights over civil rights and racial equality are going in new directions, promising to reshape race relations and common notions of being a "minority."
White plaintiffs now before the Supreme Court argue that special protections for racial and ethnic minorities dating back to the 1960s may no longer be needed, from affirmative action in college admissions to the Voting Rights Act, designed for states with a history of disenfranchising blacks.
Residential segregation has eased and intermarriage for first and second-generation Hispanics and Asians is rising, blurring racial and ethnic lines.
Unpublished 2010 census figures show that millions of people shunned standard race categories such as black or white on government forms, opting to write in their own cultural or individual identities.
By 2060, multiracial people are projected to more than triple, from 7.5 million to 26.7 million - rising even faster and rendering notions of race labels increasingly irrelevant, experts say.
The non-Hispanic white population, now at 197.8 million, is projected to peak at 200 million in 2024, before entering a steady decline in absolute numbers as the massive baby boomer generation enters its golden years. Four years after that, racial and ethnic minorities will become a majority among adults 18-29.
By 2000, the percentage of US whites had slid to 69 percent; it's now nearly 64 percent.
The US has nearly 315 million people today. According to the census projections, the US population will cross the 400 million mark in 2051, 12 years later than previously projected. The population will hit 420.3 million a half century from now in 2060.
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