More minority babies than whites in US

More minority babies than whites in US

More minority babies than whites in U.S.: Census Bureau

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Maira Morales holds her 5 month-old daughter April Morales, at Mary's Center, in Washington, D.C. A new census report shows a drop in white (non-Hispanic) births to below 50 percent. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via Getty Images / May 17, 2012)

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• Newborn baby Makenzie is wheeled to a nursery after she was born at 10:25am at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York

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Reuters

11:53 a.m. CDT, May 17, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the first time, there are more black, Hispanic and other minority babies being born in the United States than white babies, according to government data released on Thursday that officially confirm what has been a long-growing trend.

U.S. Census Bureau data show the United States is on its way to becoming "majority minority," with almost half of all young children currently from minority groups, including Hispanic, black and Asian.

As of July 1, 2011, 50.4 percent of babies younger than age 1 were minorities or of more than one race, up from 49.5 percent in 2010, the data showed.

For children younger than age 5, 49.7 percent were a minority or mixed race last year, up from 49.0 percent in 2010, according to the agency, which tracks the U.S. population.

While the country has long been on course to see whites lose their majority, the latest figures make it clear that the next generations of Americans will look far different than today.

The figures are also likely to reignite debate over what it means to be an American in an election year where race, poverty and immigration are hot-button campaign issues.

More than half of all residents in Hawaii, California, New Mexico, Texas and Washington, D.C. were minorities as of last year, the agency found.

Overall, 36.6 percent of the U.S. population were minorities in 2011 compared to 36.1 percent in 2010. The 197.5 million whites still made up nearly two-thirds of the nation, the Census Bureau said.

The largest and fastest-growing minority group in the United States last year remained Hispanics at 52 million, or nearly 17 percent of the nation's population. The black population was 43.9 million.

Asians were the second-fastest growing population, growing 3 percent to 18 million.

There were 6.3 million American Indian and Alaska Native residents and 1.4 million Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.

Some experts on race and ethnicity say current immigrants are far less likely to "melt" into U.S. culture, while others say today's minorities may soon see their heritage blend as whites did. Generations ago there were not "whites" but European groups that were identified as Irish, German, Italian and Greek, among others.

The growing Hispanic population and related immigration concerns, particularly in southern states that border Mexico, are expected to be major issues in November's presidential and congressional elections.

(Reporting By Susan Heavey; Editing by Vicki Allen)
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California where I live crossed into this world I believe it was in the late 1990s with minorities (especially Hispanics) becoming the majority at that time. So, I guess it was only a matter of time that this happened for the rest of the country. Though I know there are some people in mostly all white states especially in the Midwest and North of the U.S. that will feel threatened by all this, I think it is time to be more realistic about the whole thing. If you actually study what the average person on earth will tend to look like because of travel by air and people moving around now it is not primarily, Asian, or any other nationality. The computer generated Image looks like a black Asian, Hispanic, native American person simply because the dominant genes tend to be darker hair, darker skin etc.

If you actually realize that white skin is an adaptation from living without enough sunlight which includes blonde hair, red hair, blue eyes, green eyes etc. and that it is one step away from being albino then a better perspective of what white people are rises into one's mind. It is true that white people have had to be very industrious always to survive the snowy places that there is less sun in order to just not die. However, now with increased skin cancer risk for people with white skin because of the hole in the ozone this changes everything for people with white skin. So, there is an advantage to be a person of many different skin colors and groupings. The other strange thing is that within 100 to 200 years it is possible that white people won't exist because of interbreeding with other groups. Whether all this is good or bad each person much decide for themselves. However, I tend to see it all as just another example of "Survival of the fittest" in this world era.