ORLANDO, Fla. – For the generation of Americans who are not yet old enough to drive, the demographic future has arrived.
For the first time, non-whites and Hispanics were the majority of people under the age of 16 in 2019, an expected demographic shift that will grow in the coming decades, according to figures released by the United States Census Bureau on Thursday.
“We are darkening from the bottom up in our age structure,” said William Frey, senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. “This is going to be a diversified century for the United States, and it’s starting with this younger generation.”
At the same time, the number of non-Hispanic whites in the US USA It has declined in the past decade as deaths outnumbered births in this demographic aging, according to population estimates from the Census Bureau.
Since 2010, the number of non-Hispanic whites has decreased by more than 16,600 people. But the decline has intensified in the past three years, with the number of non-Hispanic whites declining by more than half a million people from 2016 to 2019, according to population estimates from the Census Bureau.
In 2019, just under 40% of the total US population. USA It was not white or Hispanic. Non-Hispanic whites are expected to be a minority of the United States population in about 25 years.
A natural decrease in the number of deaths that exceeded births, plus a slowdown in immigration to the US. It contributed to the decline in population since 2010 for non-Hispanic whites, whose average age of 43.7 years last year was by far the highest of any demographic group. If these numbers hold true for the 2020 census being conducted right now, it will be the first time since the first 10-year census in 1790 that there has been a national decline in whites, Frey said.
“It is getting old. Of course, we did not have much immigration, that has been reduced, “said Frey. “White fertility is down.”
In fact, the decline in births among the white population has led to a decrease in the number of people under the age of 18 in the past decade, a drop exacerbated by the fact that the much larger Millennial cohort has abandoned that group, replaced by a smaller generation Z.
Over the past decade, Asians had the highest growth rate of any demographic group, increasing by almost 30%. Almost two thirds of that growth was fueled by international migration.
The Hispanic population has grown 20% since 2010, with nearly three-quarters of that growth coming from a natural increase that occurs when more people are born than die.
The black population grew nearly 12% during the decade, and the white population increased 4.3%.
The nation’s older people have increased since 2010 as Baby Boomers entered that demographic, and the number of people over the age of 65 increased by more than a third. Seniors in 2019 made up over 16% of the U.S. population. USA, Compared to 13% in 2010.
In four states, Maine, Florida, West Virginia and Vermont, older people made up 20% of the population. It is a benchmark that is expected to reach the general US population. USA By 2030.
“The first Baby Boomers reached the age of 65 in 2011,” said Luke Rogers, head of the Population Estimates Division of the Census Bureau. “No other age group experienced such a rapid increase.”
