US minorities will be the majority by 2042, Census Bureau predicts, 8 years sooner than previous estimates

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White people will no longer make up a majority of Americans by 2042, according to new government projections. That's eight years sooner than previous estimates, made in 2004. The nation has been growing more diverse for decades, but the process has sped up through immigration and higher birth rates among minority residents, especially Hispanics.

The Census Bureau Thursday released population projections through 2050, based on rates for births, deaths and immigration. They are subject to big revisions, depending on immigration policy, cultural changes and natural or manmade disasters. By 2042, minorities, collectively, are projected to make up more than 50 percent of the U.S. population, the Census Bureau said August 14.

The U.S. has nearly 305 million people today. The population is projected to hit 400 million in 2039 and 439 million in 2050. That's like adding all the people from France and Britain, said Steve A. Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Non-Hispanic whites are currently 66 percent of the U.S. population and are projected to be 46 percent in 2050. By 2050, minorities - those who identify themselves as Hispanic, black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander or mixed race - will account for 54 percent of the U.S. population, which is projected to total 439 million that year. (The nation's population is currently around 305 million, and about 34 percent identify themselves as a member of a racial or ethnic minority.)

Among the nation's children, the trend is even more pronounced: by 2023, more than half will belong to a minority racial or ethnic group, the Census Bureau said. By 2050, this will jump to 62 percent (compared to 44 percent today).

Hispanics are the fastest-growing minority group, the Census Bureau said. The Hispanic population is projected to nearly triple, from almost 47 million to 133 million, during the 2008-2050 period, and will jump from 15 percent to 30 percent of the population. Asians are the third largest minority group - and the second fastest-growing group - in the United States, according to the August 14 Census Bureau report, which predicts that Asians will increase from 5 percent of the U.S. population in 2008 to 9 percent by 2050. The black population is projected to rise from 14 percent in 2008 to 15 percent in 2050, while American Indians and Alaska Natives are projected to increase from 1.6 percent to 2 percent.

The 2000 census was the first in which people could identify themselves as belonging to two or more races. By 2050, the number of people classified as mixed race is projected to more than triple, from 5.2 million to 16.2 million.

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Images courtesy of U.S. Census Bureau, MinnPost, AFP

Original Source: ABC News and News Blaze

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