CNN: Minorities expected to be majority in 2050

[Toe Jam]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/13/census.minorities/index.html

(CNN) -- By 2050, minorities will be the majority in America, and the number of residents older than 65 will more than double, according to projections released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Minorities, classified as those of any race other than non-Hispanic, single-race whites, currently constitute about a third of the U.S. population, according to Census figures. But by 2042, they are projected to become the majority, making up more than half the population. By 2050, 54 percent of the population will be minorities.

Minority children are projected to reach that milestone even sooner. By 2023, the bureau said, more than half of all children will be minorities.

"Part of it is a higher fertility rate for some of the minority groups, Hispanics in particular," said Dave Waddington, chief of the Census Bureau's population projection branch, which issued the report. "Those groups also tend to be more of the childbearing age. Non-Hispanic white people tend to be a little bit older."

The projections are based on Census 2000 results and assumptions about future childbearing, mortality rates and net international migration, the bureau said.

The group predicted to post the most dramatic gain is the Hispanic population. It is projected to nearly triple, from 46.7 million to 132.8 million, from 2008 through 2050, the bureau said. Its share of the total U.S. population is expected to double from 15 to 30 percent. "Thus, one in three U.S. residents would be Hispanic," the Census Bureau said in a news release.

The African-American population is projected to increase from 41.1 million to 65.7 million by 2050, going from 14 percent of the U.S. population to 15 percent. The Asian-American population is expected to increase from 15.5 million to 40.6 million, or from 5.1 percent to 9.2 percent of the population.

Among the remaining races, the bureau said, American Indians and Alaska natives are projected to increase from 3.9 million to 8.6 million, going from 1.6 percent to 2 percent of the U.S. population. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders are expected to more than double, increasing from 1.1 to 2.6 million.

In addition, the number of U.S. residents identifying themselves as being of two or more races is projected to more than triple, increasing to 16.2 million from its current 5.2 million, the Census Bureau said.

Meanwhile, the non-Hispanic white population is not expected to post dramatic gains in the same period. By 2050, whites are expected to number 203.3 million, slightly increased from the 2008 number of 199.8 million. Whites will comprise 46 percent of the U.S. population by 2050, down from the current level of 66 percent, the bureau said, as the group is projected to lose population in the 2030s and 2040s.

By 2030, all baby boomers will be age 65 and older -- comprising nearly 20 percent of U.S. residents, or one in five Americans, the bureau said. By 2050, the 65-and-older age group will increase to 88.5 million, more than doubling its current number of 38.7 million. Meanwhile, the number of those age 85 and older is expected to more than triple, from 5.4 million in 2008 to 19 million by 2050.

Non-Hispanic whites make up most of the baby boomers, Waddington said. "They're in a higher mortality rate ... nonminority groups tend to be older and dying off faster" instead of reproducing at the rate projected for minorities.

Obviously, the projections will have "very strong policy implications," he said -- medical care for an increasingly elderly population, for instance, educational needs for increasing numbers of minority children and economic effects for the labor force.

"Who's going to do the jobs that are characteristically held right now by certain types of people?" Waddington said. "All those things are subject to change."

The United States is projected to reach the 400 million population milestone in 2039, according to bureau projections. By 2050, the population is expected to be 439 million. Of those, 235.7 million are expected to be minorities.

As U.S. cities and towns have increasingly become more diverse, Census officials knew the day of a majority minority would come, Waddington said. And "the aging one is sort of simple," he added. "That's demography 101."

Other highlights from the report released Thursday:

• By 2050, 62 percent of the nation's children will be minorities, up from 44 percent today. Of those, 39 percent are projected to be Hispanic, up from 22 percent in 2008, and 38 percent are projected to be white, down from 56 percent in 2008

• The percentage of the U.S. population between the ages of 18 and 64 -- the "working age" population -- is projected to decrease to 57 percent in 2050 from 63 percent in 2008.

• The working-age population will become more than 50 percent minority in 2039, and by 2050 will constitute 55 percent of the population.

• By 2050, the working-age population will be more than 30 percent Hispanic, up from 15 percent in 2008; 15 percent African-American, up from 13 percent in 2008; and 9.6 percent Asian, up from 5.3 percent in 2008.

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[Major Harris]

i think we need to loosen the restriction on immigrants from ireland.

[Redskins Diehard]

isn't it impossible for minorities to ever be the majority?

[aREDSKIN]

isn't it impossible for minorities to ever be the majority?

LOL :laugh:

[Thiebear]

Yay! I'll be able to get a promotion.

[Major Harris]

isn't it impossible for minorities to ever be the majority?

no.

for one group of minorities, yes.

all minorities added up will total more than whites.

[Prosperity]

why are all minorities lumped into one group of people?

[twa]

why are all minorities lumped into one group of people?

Why are non-Hispanic whites?

We reached the minority -majority locally a long time ago,I believe Texas as a whole reached it the other day.

You white people ain't humpin enough or something

[Prosperity]

Why are non-Hispanic whites?

good point

I think it is a self selected classification for the most part though

[USS Redskins]

It is funny that in 1990 they said the same thing about 2010 - that whites would be the minority.

[TMK9973]

It is funny that in 1990 they said the same thing about 2010 - that whites would be the minority.

Yup - And in 2000 they said it would be by 2025...

You know why it doesn't happen? Because we are horny people!

No joke...

It's not like Whites only do whites, or Hispanics only do Hispanics - Fact is we all bang each other. Races get diluted here in the USA. Over time, what is called "White" might have a little Asian, a little Hispanic, a little black.... but perhaps they are 3/4th or 7/8 white.

[Henry]

By 2050, whites are expected to number 203.3 million, slightly increased from the 2008 number of 199.8 million.

I gotta call BS on this.

[wysknz1]

I'd better get a reversal and get to hittin it with the old lady.

[buenosdiaz]

I don't see people in color...what are you guys talking about

[GibbsFactor]

I gotta call BS on this.

Yeah, 4 million increase in 40 years.

I know whitey ain't hittin it like the hispanics but come on...

[Mass_SkinsFan]

So long as these are AMERICAN BORN minorities who have bought into AMERICAN society, I have no problem with this. If this is being caused by immigration (legal or illegal) and/or these are people who are not buying into AMERICAN society, but rather maintaining their Asian, Latino, etc... society from their former homelands then I have a VERY SERIOUS problem with this.

[SkinsOrlando]

Alrighty white ladies, lets get to ****in, I'm clearing my schedule.

[Monte51Coleman]

Yay! I'll be able to get a promotion.

Yeah, but you'll be 82.

[War Paint]

Hmmm, I guess this means white people aren't going to have sex anymore.

[brandymac27]

Ok, not to hijack the thread, but this is what I don't get. Why is it that biracial people, specifically people who are half white and half black, are considered black or African American? Obama is a good example. Everyone says if elected he'll be the first African American president. But, he's not JUST African American, he's white too. Why not call them biracial or something?

[Thiebear]

Yeah, but you'll be 82.

I'll be LEAD greeter .... thats right... no punching the tickets for me.

[revallenjr]

Don't you think we ought to wait until then to elect a minority president? I would hate to jump the gun and all.

[Mass_SkinsFan]

Hmmm, I guess this means white people aren't going to have sex anymore.

Sort of. It's more a matter that most whites aren't trying to pop out 3 or 4 kids to up their monthly welfare payments like some of the minority individuals are. Likewise, I remember seeing a report some time ago that committed couples tend to have less children and there are more married couples in the white population than the minority populations, percentagewise.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Sort of. It's more a matter that most whites aren't trying to pop out 3 or 4 kids to up their monthly welfare payments like some of the minority individuals are.

Wow.... :doh:

[brandymac27]

Sort of. It's more a matter that most whites aren't trying to pop out 3 or 4 kids to up their monthly welfare payments like some of the minority individuals are. Likewise, I remember seeing a report some time ago that committed couples tend to have less children and there are more married couples in the white population than the minority populations, percentagewise.

Here in the south, at least in the city I live in, it's majority hispanics on welfare. There popping kids out like crazy too.

I don't understand this b/c most of them are illegal, and don't have SS# etc. so how are they getting all of these social services? I remember I went down to apply for medicaid once for my kid when I got laid off, and they wouldn't apprpve my application b/c I didn't have an original copy of my birth certificate (I was born in Conn so I coulodn't just go to city hall and get one).

So, I guess they are using fake ID's to get these services. This really pisses me off b/c I work my ass off and can't get crap when I need it, but they can walk right in the building and get anything they want.