US demographic profile changing faster than expected

Posted by Elena del Valle on June 24, 2013

States with Majority Minority Toddler Populations 2012 – click to enlarge

For years there has been debate about the demographic face of America. Experts have estimated growth, births, deaths and juggled data to predict what our country will look like in coming decades. Newly analyzed Census 2010 information points to an unprecedented change in our nation’s racial and ethnic profile in 14 states. Data on ten of the states is represented in the graphic in this article. Four additional states were excluded to keep the graphic size manageable: New Jersey, New York, Mississippi and Delaware.

Non Hispanic whites are dying at a faster rate than they are born. This was anticipated. The speed at which it is happening is what is unexpected. Three states, Texas, New Mexico and California, have already reached majority-minority status, according to The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization.

William Frey, senior fellow there, indicated in a recent article (Shift to a Majority-Minority Population in the U.S. Happening Faster than Expected) that the country is at the beginning of “an inevitable transition that affords us new opportunities.” Booming minority births, fewer births and more deaths among whites, and immigration are driving these changes, according to his article.