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I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I do think it's very interesting. And with a projected population rise to 420 million by 2050 (50% increase), it would be wise to invest in real estate now.
"WASHINGTON ? The nation's Asian and Hispanic populations will roughly triple in size by midcentury, when minority groups overall will be nearly equal in number with whites, the Census Bureau (search) says.
Whites, now about 69 percent of the population, would comprise 50.1 percent of U.S. residents by 2050, bureau projections released Thursday show.
Immigration should continue to play a key role in sparking the explosive growth among Asians and especially Hispanics, said Greg Spencer, a demographer at the Census Bureau.
These demographic shifts will occur as the national population balloons to 420 million at midcentury, rising nearly 50 percent from 2000. Americans will get a bit grayer, too, by 2050 ? nearly 21 percent of residents will be age 65 or older, compared with 12 percent now.
The latest estimates update long-predicted trends, though race and ethnic changes are occurring sooner because of higher-than-expected immigration rates.
"These kind of data pushes us to think about the country in different ways, and how we define America," said Sonia Perez, vice president of research for the National Council of La Raza (search), the nation's largest advocacy group for Hispanics.
"But in terms of the message, it's the same story on how we need to focus on investments in these populations" such as reducing disparities in education and health care, Perez said.
Projections for whites, blacks and Asians covered only those who identified with one race. More detailed estimates, including those of multiracial Americans, will be released next year.
The Asian population is expected to grow 213 percent to 33 million by 2050. Hispanics will increase their ranks by 188 percent to 102.6 million, or roughly one-quarter of the population.
The black population would see a 71 percent increase to 61 million, remaining the second-largest minority.
Meanwhile, the white population would grow just 7 percent to 210 million. That figure refers only to whites who are not Hispanic.
The Census Bureau counts "Hispanic" or "Latino" as an ethnicity rather than a race, so Hispanics can be of any race, including white.
"Non-Hispanic white" is what would generally be considered the majority group in the U.S. population, though they are not officially designated as such, said John Haaga, a demographer with the Population Reference Bureau (search) in Washington, a research group.
Between 2040 and 2050, the Census Bureau expects the non-Hispanic white population actually will decline slightly because of a large number of expected deaths of baby boomers, who by 2040 will be at least 76.
The projections ? the first released by the bureau since the 2000 head count ? also show a burgeoning older population as healthier lifestyles and better medical treatment increase longevity. By 2050, 5 percent of the country will be 85 or older, compared with 1.5 percent now.
"This poses very interesting challenges. Institutions are going to be transformed ? and Social Security is the obvious one," said demographer Martha Farnsworth Riche, a former Census Bureau director. She pointed to education and health care as other affected areas.
Factors such as how multiracial Americans identify themselves could drastically alter these predictions, Riche said.
There is also the issue of how Hispanics identify themselves. Prior census data show that most Hispanics choose white as their race. Riche said that could be a sign that future generations of U.S.-born Latinos would select white and "non-Hispanic" as their background as they move further from the generation that first immigrated to the United States.
"When you look at 2050 and possibly see a large Hispanic population that doesn't speak Spanish anymore, being Hispanic might be something very different from today," said Roderick Harrison, a demographer with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (search), a research group that specializes in studying minority issues. "
I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I do think it's very interesting. And with a projected population rise to 420 million by 2050 (50% increase), it would be wise to invest in real estate now.
"WASHINGTON ? The nation's Asian and Hispanic populations will roughly triple in size by midcentury, when minority groups overall will be nearly equal in number with whites, the Census Bureau (search) says.
Whites, now about 69 percent of the population, would comprise 50.1 percent of U.S. residents by 2050, bureau projections released Thursday show.
Immigration should continue to play a key role in sparking the explosive growth among Asians and especially Hispanics, said Greg Spencer, a demographer at the Census Bureau.
These demographic shifts will occur as the national population balloons to 420 million at midcentury, rising nearly 50 percent from 2000. Americans will get a bit grayer, too, by 2050 ? nearly 21 percent of residents will be age 65 or older, compared with 12 percent now.
The latest estimates update long-predicted trends, though race and ethnic changes are occurring sooner because of higher-than-expected immigration rates.
"These kind of data pushes us to think about the country in different ways, and how we define America," said Sonia Perez, vice president of research for the National Council of La Raza (search), the nation's largest advocacy group for Hispanics.
"But in terms of the message, it's the same story on how we need to focus on investments in these populations" such as reducing disparities in education and health care, Perez said.
Projections for whites, blacks and Asians covered only those who identified with one race. More detailed estimates, including those of multiracial Americans, will be released next year.
The Asian population is expected to grow 213 percent to 33 million by 2050. Hispanics will increase their ranks by 188 percent to 102.6 million, or roughly one-quarter of the population.
The black population would see a 71 percent increase to 61 million, remaining the second-largest minority.
Meanwhile, the white population would grow just 7 percent to 210 million. That figure refers only to whites who are not Hispanic.
The Census Bureau counts "Hispanic" or "Latino" as an ethnicity rather than a race, so Hispanics can be of any race, including white.
"Non-Hispanic white" is what would generally be considered the majority group in the U.S. population, though they are not officially designated as such, said John Haaga, a demographer with the Population Reference Bureau (search) in Washington, a research group.
Between 2040 and 2050, the Census Bureau expects the non-Hispanic white population actually will decline slightly because of a large number of expected deaths of baby boomers, who by 2040 will be at least 76.
The projections ? the first released by the bureau since the 2000 head count ? also show a burgeoning older population as healthier lifestyles and better medical treatment increase longevity. By 2050, 5 percent of the country will be 85 or older, compared with 1.5 percent now.
"This poses very interesting challenges. Institutions are going to be transformed ? and Social Security is the obvious one," said demographer Martha Farnsworth Riche, a former Census Bureau director. She pointed to education and health care as other affected areas.
Factors such as how multiracial Americans identify themselves could drastically alter these predictions, Riche said.
There is also the issue of how Hispanics identify themselves. Prior census data show that most Hispanics choose white as their race. Riche said that could be a sign that future generations of U.S.-born Latinos would select white and "non-Hispanic" as their background as they move further from the generation that first immigrated to the United States.
"When you look at 2050 and possibly see a large Hispanic population that doesn't speak Spanish anymore, being Hispanic might be something very different from today," said Roderick Harrison, a demographer with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (search), a research group that specializes in studying minority issues. "
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