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Latino, Asian Populations Soar Across U.S.
By Nina Martin, New
America Media
Mar
25, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO—One in six
Americans—more than 50 million people—are Latino, according to new
Census data released Thursday, highlighting a dramatic shift in the U.S.
population over the past decade that is changing the face of the nation
far more quickly than many experts had predicted.
The Latino population soared by 43 percent from 2000 to 2010, accounting
for more than half of the overall U.S. population gain, the Census
Bureau reported. The increase was most striking in Southern states that
have not traditionally had large Latino communities, such as Georgia,
Kentucky, Alabama, North Carolina and Louisiana. But heavily Latino
states such as Nevada, Arizona, Texas and California saw sharp increases
as well.
The growth rate for Asians matched that of Latinos, though they make up
a much smaller segment of the overall U.S. population. The percentage of
blacks across the U.S. held steady, while the proportion of white
Americans declined.
In 2010, Latinos accounted for 16 percent of the 309 million people in
the U.S.. Asians made up 5 percent and African Americans 12 percent.
More than 9 million people checked two or more race categories on the
2010 census form, up 32 percent from 2000. Some 3 percent of the U.S.
population now identifies as multi-racial.
Latino Estimates Exceeded in 40 States
The growth of the Latino population exceeded estimates in 40 of the 50
states, the Census Bureau said. Seven states would have lost population
if it weren’t for Hispanics, whose numbers increased mainly because of
high immigration and birth rates.
This past decade was the first since the 1960s when the number of Latino
births surpassed the number of immigrants, according
to Jeffrey Passel, a demographer with the Pew Hispanic
Center. There were almost 5 million more Latino children in 2010 than in
2000, and more than half the under-18 population in California and New
Mexico are Latino.
By contrast, the white population is aging and stagnant. The number of
non-Hispanic whites edged up just 1 percent over the past 10 years—and
decreased as a proportion of the total U.S. population, from 69 percent
to 64 percent. Demographers predicted that that within three decades,
Latinos would outnumber white Americans.
Minorities now make up a majority of the population in 10 states and the
District of Columbia.
Big Political Battles Ahead
The new Census numbers are likely to have major political repercussions
in the coming months and years, as states use the population data to
redraw legislative and Congressional districts. The changes will have a
direct impact on the House of Representatives, where the number of seats
allocated to each state is determined by the size of its population.
The process is expected to be especially contentious this year because
many of the states in the South and West that are picking up House seats
are Republican-leaning, such as Georgia, Texas, Arizona, and Florida.
But most of their growth is being driven by Latinos, who tend to vote
Democratic.
The data released Thursday—the first set of national-level findings from
the 2010 Census on race and
migration—also showed how the population has shifted within the U.S. Americans
continued their decades-long migration to fast-growing parts of the Sun
Belt and West, pushing the nation's new center of population roughly 30
miles southwest to a spot near the tiny town of Plato, Missouri.
But among many African Americans, the migration was southward. Blacks
abandoned big cities such as Oakland, Chicago, New York and
Detroit—whose overall population plunged
25 percent— for the
suburbs of cities like Atlanta, Dallas and Houston. Both Michigan and
Illinois had their first declines in the black population since
statehood.
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