For the first time, as of 2011, more than half of the children under age 1 in the U.S. were minorities, the newest benchmark illustrating the widening age gap between mostly white, older Americans and fast-growing, younger minority populations, particularly Hispanics.
Minorities under age 1 eclipsed 50 percent (50.4 percent), from a 49.5 percent level recorded by the 2010 census.
“The growth in minority populations is a national phenomenon,” said Steve Murdock, director of the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas at Rice University. “That is different from a couple of decades ago, when we would have seen much more of it in Texas and California and in states with significant Hispanic populations.”
In Texas, nearly 7 in 10 people under age 1 were minorities as of July 2011, a slight increase from 2010, according to new census estimates out today. The data, covering the period from April 2010 to July 2011, are the first set of population estimates by race, Hispanic origin, age and sex since the decennial census. The Census Bureau said it defines a minority as anyone who is not single-race white.
Demographers have said for some time now that they expect racial and ethnic minorities will become the U.S. majority by midcentury. Texas became a majority-minority state in 2004, and in 2010, Hispanics accounted for 65 percent of the state’s growth since 2000.
Here’s the Census Bureau press release, which has all of the relevant data. Here also is an interview I did with Steve Murdock last year. He’s been talking for a long time about these changes that are coming, how Texas has been on the leading edge with the country following behind, and how we are failing the future by not adequately providing for its education. The longer we take to properly address that, the larger the cost of our indifference will be. Adam Serwer, NewsTaco, and the Trib have more.
How are the Republicans going to stay in control if they don’t embrace some of the political issues of minority population?