Minority births on track to outnumber white births

The Associated Press (AP) ^ | March 10, 2010 | HOPE YEN

Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 7:17:13 AM by Ronbo1948

Minorities make up nearly half the children born in the U.S., part of a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the U.S. majority over the next 40 years.

In fact, demographers say this year could be the "tipping point" when the number of babies born to minorities outnumbers that of babies born to whites.

The numbers are growing because immigration to the U.S. has boosted the number of Hispanic women in their prime childbearing years. Minorities made up 48 percent of U.S. children born in 2008, the latest census estimates available, compared to 37 percent in 1990.

"Census projections suggest America may become a minority-majority country by the middle of the century. For America's children, the future is now," said Kenneth Johnson, a sociology professor at the University of New Hampshire who researched many of the racial trends in a paper being released Wednesday.

Johnson explained there are now more Hispanic women of prime childbearing age who tend to have more children than women of other races. More white women are waiting until they are older to have children, but it is not yet known whether that will have a noticeable effect on the current trend of increasing minority newborns.

The numbers highlight the nation's growing racial and age divide, seen in pockets of communities across the U.S., which could heighten tensions in current policy debates from immigration reform and education to health care and Social Security.

There are also strong implications for the 2010 population count, which begins in earnest next week, when more than 120 million U.S. households receive their census forms in the mail. The Census Bureau is running public service announcements this week to improve its tally of young children, particularly minorities, who are most often missed in the once-a-decade head count. The campaign features Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer, the English- and Spanish-speaking Nickelodeon cartoon character who helps "mommy fill out our census form."

The population figures are used to distribute federal aid and redraw legislative boundaries with racial and ethnic balance, as required by federal law.

"The adults among themselves sometimes forget the census is about everyone, and kids should be counted," said Census Bureau director Robert Groves. "If we fail to count a newborn that is born this month, that newborn misses all the benefits of the census for 10 years."

Whites currently make up two-thirds of the total U.S. population, and recent census estimates suggest the number of minorities may not overtake the number of whites until 2050.

Right now, roughly 1 in 10 of the nation's 3,142 counties already have minority populations greater than 50 percent. But 1 in 4 communities have more minority children than white children or are nearing that point, according to the study, which Johnson co-published.

That is because Hispanic women on average have three children, while other women on average have two. The numbers are 2.99 children for Hispanics, 1.87 for whites, 2.13 for blacks and 2.04 for Asians in the U.S. And the number of white women of prime childbearing age is on the decline, dropping 19 percent from 1990.

For example:

_In Gwinnett County, Ga., an Atlanta suburb, the population has shifted from 16 percent minority in 1990 to 58 percent minority in 2008. The number of blacks and Hispanics nearly doubled, while the number of white young people stayed roughly the same.

_The population of Dakota County, Neb., increased from 15 percent minority in 1990 to 54 percent in 2008, due largely to an influx of Hispanics who came looking for work in meatpacking and other labor.

_In Lake County, Ind., a suburb of Chicago, the minority population grew from 43 percent in 1990 to 53 percent in 2008 as the number of white children declined, the number of blacks stayed stable and the number of Hispanics increased.

The 2008 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.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, I bumped my own thread. (That's SO sad...)

Anyway, I thought it boiled down to these two paragraphs:

For me, it boiled down to "The figures for "white" refer to those whites who are not of Hispanic ethnicity."

What is a "white" person?

Definitions of white person on the Web:



What is a Caucasoid?

Caucasian race



Where is the Caucasus region?

Caucasus



All I know for certain is that I'm a German-Irish blend, which makes me "white," as opposed to "off-white," I suppose.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you took me to Sherwin-Williams they'd tell you I was somewhere between "Arctic Drift" and "Pina Colada."

Edited: 03/11/2010 at 12:26 AM by Spinwubby

Well, a "minority" can be outbreeding the whites AND still be having more abortions, or be targeted for abortion. Statistically, unplanned parenthood must realise that a group of people having more pregnancies is a group to be targeted for abortion.

-------------------------
God is Love.

The question then becomes in all of life's circumstance, "what is the loving thing to do?"

I'm actually a very dark copper skin tone, I have quite a bit of cherokee in me, do I not qualify as caucasion?

-------------------------
If tears could build a stair, and hopes could build a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again.-Rest in peace my Aidan. 10-22-08

Shout out to the redneck gals like me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...zk&feature=related

If you can trace your ancestry to great great great...grandpa Caucas, or if your cranium meets Blumenbach's criteria, then congratulations! You qualify as Caucasian! (at least in part)

But wait! There's more!

White American



It would appear that if you aren't a "W.A.S.P.," or even "White ethnic," then as a part Cherokee, you could still be "white" for purposes of the U.S. Census, and even Caucasian, because the people who became the Cherokee migrated from Asia over the Bering Strait land bridge eons ago, people who may have set out from the Caucasus eons before that!

This site suggests as much: Cherokee by blood



Bottom line, we are all related.

Don't be a Paleface!

Edited: 03/11/2010 at 09:54 AM by LexIcon

I'm actually not considered white, I have documentation stating that I am cherokee, being a quarter breed I could claim money from the government if I felt like it but..I just don't. On the census I can claim caucasian or, native American and be completely accurate.

-------------------------
If tears could build a stair, and hopes could build a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again.-Rest in peace my Aidan. 10-22-08

Shout out to the redneck gals like me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...zk&feature=related

You've reminded me of an American History course that I took and of what it took to be considered "black," so I searched and found this: Who is Black? One Nation's Definition

Since we are reasonably certain that all human beings are descended from "black" Africans, all sharing that common heritage, wouldn't all human beings be "black" according to that definition?

Yes, but not all human beings can jump.