The End Is Near

Non-white births outnumber white births for the first time in US.

White births in the United States are no longer in the majority, according to new data from the US Census Bureau, as a rising Hispanic population contributes to an historic demographic shift.





9:46AM BST 17 May 2012

Minority races – Hispanics, blacks and Asians and other mixed races – accounted for 50.4 per cent of births over the year to July, accounting for a majority for the first time in US history.
The demographic milestone had been expected for years in a country founded by European whites and that early on relied heavily on the work of enslaved African populations, then went through a civil war and civil rights battle over issues of race.
In recent years, the growth of Hispanic populations immigrating from Latin America has hastened a decline in the majority status of white births, the census data suggested.
"This is an important landmark," said Roderick Harrison, a former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau who is now a sociologist at Howard University. "This generation is growing up much more accustomed to diversity than its elders."
As a whole, the nation's minority population continues to rise, following a higher-than-expected Hispanic count in the 2010 census. Minorities increased 1.9 per cent to 114.1 million, or 36.6 per cent of the total U.S. population, lifted by prior waves of immigration that brought in young families and boosted the number of Hispanic women in their prime childbearing years.
But a recent slowdown in the growth of the Hispanic and Asian populations is shifting notions on when the tipping point in U.S. diversity will come – the time when non-Hispanic whites become a minority. After 2010 census results suggested a crossover as early as 2040, 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 2 per cent, roughly half the rates in 2000 and the lowest in more than a decade. The black growth rate stayed flat at 1 per cent.
Racial and ethnic minorities make up more than half the children born in the US, capping decades of heady immigration growth that is now slowing.
New 2011 census estimates highlight sweeping changes in the nation's racial make-up and the prolonged impact of a weak economy, which is now resulting in fewer Hispanics entering the U.S.
The report comes as the Supreme Court prepares to rule on the legality of Arizona's strict immigration law, with many states weighing similar get-tough measures.
"We remain in a dangerous period where those appealing to anti-immigration elements are fuelling a divisiveness and hostility that might take decades to overcome," Harrison said.
As a whole, the nation's minority population continues to rise, following a higher-than-expected Hispanic count in the 2010 census. Minorities increased 1.9 per cent to 114.1 million, or 36.6 per cent of the total U.S. population, lifted by prior waves of immigration that brought in young families and boosted the number of Hispanic women in their prime childbearing years.
But a recent slowdown in the growth of the Hispanic and Asian populations is shifting notions on when the tipping point in U.S. diversity will come – the time when non-Hispanic whites become a minority. After 2010 census results suggested a crossover as early as 2040, 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 2 per cent, roughly half the rates in 2000 and the lowest in more than a decade. The black growth rate stayed flat at 1 per cent.
Pointing to a longer-term decline in immigration, demographers believe the Hispanic population boom 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," said Mark Mather, associate vice president of the Population Reference Bureau. "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."
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The immigrants staying put in the U.S. for now include Narcisa Marcelino, 34, a single mother who lives with her two daughters, ages 10 and 5, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. After crossing into the U.S. from Mexico in 2000, she followed her brother to the eastern part of the state just outside the Baltimore-Washington region. The Martinsburg area is known for hiring hundreds of migrants annually to work in fruit orchards. Its Hispanic growth climbed from 14 per cent to 18 per cent between 2000 and 2005 before shrinking last year to 3.3 per cent, still above the national average.
Marcelino says she sells food from her home to make ends meet for her family and continues to hope that one day she will get a hearing with immigration officials to stay legally in the U.S. She aspires to open a restaurant and is learning English at a community college so she can help other Spanish-language speakers.
If she is eventually deported, "it wouldn't be that tragic," Marcelino said. "But because the children have been born here, this is their country. And there are more opportunities for them here."
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. They include Lakeland, Florida; Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta; Provo, Utah; Las Vegas; and Phoenix. All but two – Fort Myers, Florida, and Dallas-Fort Worth – also grew more slowly last year than in 2010, hurt by the jobs slump.
Pointing to a longer-term decline in immigration, demographers believe the Hispanic population boom 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," said Mark Mather, associate vice president of the Population Reference Bureau. "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."
William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution who analysed the census data, noted that government debates over immigration enforcement may now be less pressing, given slowing growth. "The current congressional and Supreme Court interest in reducing immigration – and the concerns especially about low-skilled and undocumented Hispanic immigration – represent issues that could well be behind us," he said.
Minorities made up roughly 2.02 million, or 50.4 per cent of U.S. births in the 12-month period ending July 2011. That compares with 37 per cent in 1990.
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 per cent. 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.
The counties in transition include Maricopa (Phoenix), Arizona; King (Seattle), Washington; Travis (Austin), Texas; and Palm Beach, Florida, where recent Hispanic births are driving the increased diversity among children. Also high on the list are suburban counties such as Fairfax, Virginia, just outside the nation's capital, and Westchester, New York, near New York City, where more open spaces are a draw for young families who are increasingly minority.
According to the latest data, the percentage growth of Hispanics slowed from 4.2 per cent in 2001 to 2.5 per cent last year. Their population growth would have been even lower if it weren't for their relatively high fertility rates – seven births for every death. The median age of U.S. Hispanics is 27.6 years.
Births actually have been declining for both whites and minorities as many women postponed having children during the economic slump. But the drop since 2008 has been larger for whites, who have a median age of 42. The number of white births fell by 11.4 per cent, compared with 3.2 per cent for minorities, according to Kenneth Johnson, a sociologist at the University of New Hampshire.
Asian population increases also slowed, from 4.5 per cent in 2001 to about 2.2 per cent. Hispanics and Asians still are the two fastest-growing minority groups, making up about 16.7 per cent and 4.8 per cent of the U.S. population, respectively.
Blacks, who comprise about 12.3 per cent of the population, have increased at a rate of about 1 per cent each year. Whites have increased very little in recent years.
Other findings:
-The migration of black Americans back to the South is slowing. New destinations in the South, including Atlanta, Charlotte, North Carolina, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Orlando, Florida, saw sharp drop-offs in black population growth as the prolonged housing bust kept African-Americans locked in place in traditional big cities. Metro areas including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco had reduced declines or gains.
-Nine U.S. counties in five states saw their minority populations across all age groups surpass 50 per cent last year. They were Sutter and Yolo in California; Quitman in Georgia; Cumberland in New Jersey; Colfax in New Mexico; and Lynn, Mitchell, Schleicher and Swisher in Texas.
-Maverick County, Texas, had the largest share of minorities at 96.8 per cent, followed by Webb County, Texas, and Wade Hampton, Alaska, both at 96 per cent.
-Four states – Hawaii, California, New Mexico and Texas – as well as the District of Columbia have minority populations that exceed 50 per cent.
The census estimates used local records of births and deaths, tax records of people moving within the U.S., and census statistics on immigrants. The figures for "white" refer to those whites who are not of Hispanic ethnicity.

Not to worry. White people are building spaceships as we speak.

If you did not already, you might want to purchase that symbol from Riley Martin!

White people will figure something out, we always do.

I plan on starting a "Back to Sweden" Movement for white people

Feel free to leave at any time you racist asshole !

I agree.

-Black-hispanic who's fucked asians. lol Got it covered.

The end of what?

Booybob2's account.

That Booybob name must be cursed, they end up dead.

Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In Bob's "They're at it again, grape soda edition" thead, my 1st comment was "booybob3, comming soon to a SFN near you", But that thread got deleted before I could highlight my prediction.

hahahahaha tom nails it

Congratulations, Tom. You're now the forum's psychic advisor. I wondered why I couldn't find the offending comment amongst his posts. I didn't notice the thread was deleted.

So much for being deaded....

It's just 'on hold'.

I think Booy's a pretty level poster. I love how he's voting for Obama as a protest vote against the GOP. Coming from him that is just golden.

Still here and booybob3 is not needed

not this time

Can you beleive that I was put in the slammer because someone thought I was spamming the board

and now it's not, I'm back. I'm at it again.

Two threads was spamming? There are some pretty sensitive people in these forums

Never hit alert on ya Bob.... maybe ricky? (post #9) http://www.sternfannetwork.com/xen/index.php?threads/theyre-at-it-again-baltimore-style.662056/