WASHINGTON, DC, USA, August 13, 2008: Ethnic and racial minorities will comprise a majority of the United States’ population in a little more than a generation, according to new Census Bureau projections. The transformation is occurring faster than anticipated just a few years ago.
The census calculates that by 2042, Americans who identify themselves as Hispanic, black, Asian (including Indians), American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander will together outnumber whites. The main reason for the accelerating change is significantly higher birthrates among immigrants. Another factor is the influx of foreigners, rising from about 1.3 million annually today to more than 2 million a year by midcentury, according to projections based on current immigration policies. “No other country has experienced such rapid racial and ethnic change recently,” said Mark Mather, a demographer with the Population Reference Bureau, a research organization in Washington.
So-called minorities, the Census Bureau projects, will constitute a majority of the nation’s children under 18 by 2023 and of working-age Americans by 2039.
“What’s happening now in terms of increasing diversity probably is unprecedented,” said Campbell Gibson, a retired census demographer. Several states, including California and Texas, have already reached the point where members of minorities are in the majority.