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Nation's minority population continues to rise
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
May 17th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
May 17th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Racial and ethnic minorities now make up more than half the children
born in the U.S. for the firs time in its history. The latest figures
cap decades of heady immigration growth that is now slowing. The new
2011 census highlights sweeping changes in the nation's racial makeup.
This statistic comes at a time when the Supreme Court prepares to rule on the legality of Arizona's strict immigration law. Many states are weighing in on similar get-tough measures.
"We remain in a dangerous period where those appealing to anti-immigration elements are fueling a divisiveness and hostility that might take decades to overcome," Harrison said.
The nation's minority population continues to rise, following a higher-than-expected Hispanic count in the 2010 census. Minorities increased 1.9 percent to 114.1 million, or 36.6 percent of the total U.S. population, lifted by previous years of immigration that brought in young families and boosted the number of Hispanic women in their prime childbearing years.
The recent slowdown in the growth of the Hispanic and Asian populations is changing attitudes on when the tipping point in U.S. diversity will come, i.e. the time when non-Hispanic whites become a minority. Demographers now believe the pivotal moment may be pushed back several years when new projections are released in December.
The annual growth rates for Hispanics and Asians fell sharply last year to just over two percent, roughly half the rates in 2000 and the lowest in more than a decade. The black growth rate stayed flat at one percent.
Of the 30 large metropolitan areas showing the fastest Hispanic growth in the previous decade, all showed slower growth in 2011 than in the peak Hispanic growth years of 2005-2006, when the construction boom attracted new migrants to low-wage work.
Many demographers believe the Hispanic population boom in the U.S. may have peaked.
"The Latino population is very young, which means they will continue to have a lot of births relative to the general population," Mark Mather, associate vice president of the Population Reference Bureau says. "But we're seeing a slowdown that is likely the result of multiple factors: declining Latina birth rates combined with lower immigration levels. If both of these trends continue, they will lead to big changes down the road."
In all, 348 of the nation's 3,143 counties, or 1 in 9, have minority populations across all age groups that total more than 50 percent. In a sign of future U.S. race and ethnic change, the number of counties reaching the tipping point increases to more than 690, or nearly 1 in 4, when looking only at the under age 5 population.
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