DIVERSITY AND POPULATION CHANGE: 2000-2050

The population of the United States continues to be very diverse, with new immigrants from many different countries adding to its current and projected population. This ethnic and cultural diversity continues to be a striking feature of the society. (Projected Growth in Population by Race and Hispanic Origin)

The latest population projections highlight the country’s increasingly diverse character:

1. The country’s total population will grow from 282.1 million in 2000 to 419.9 million in 2050. This projected 49 percent population increase will be in sharp contrast to most European countries, whose populations are expected to decline by mid-century.

2. Non-Hispanic whites will decrease from the current 69.4 percent of the total population to 50.1 percent by 2050.

3. The largest population growth will be of people of Hispanic origin (who may be of any race). This segment of the population is projected to increase from 35.6 million in 2002 to 102.6 million in 2050, an increase of 188 percent. The Hispanic share of the nation’s population would nearly double during this same period, from 12.6 percent to 24.4 percent.

4. The black population is projected to rise from 35.8 million in 2000 to 61.4 million in 2050, an increase of about 26 million or 71 percent. The black share of the population would rise from 12.7 percent to 14.6 percent.

5. The Asian population is projected to grow 213 percent, from 10.7 million in 2000 to 33.4 million in 2050. TheAsian share of the nation’s population would double from 3.8 percent to 8 percent during this period.

6. The country’s population also is projected to become older. By 2030, about 1-in-5 people will be 65 or over.

While the county’s population will continue to remain diverse, the proportions of those composing it will change dramatically. The main change (in addition to the total “minority population” becoming close to half of the total population) will be that those of Hispanic origin will become an increasingly large proportion of that minority, becoming the majority in some cities, such as Miami, and parts of the country, such as California.

Current immigration patterns still reflect great diversity with people arriving from almost every country. Nevertheless, diversity among these immigrants has declined with an ever greater proportion coming from Mexico and other parts of Spanish-speaking Latin America.

1. In 1990, immigrants from Mexico accounted for 22 percent of all immigrants. By 2000, this number had grown to 30 percent of the total number of immigrantes. Mexico alone accounted for 43 percent of the growth in the total United States foreign-born population between 1990 and 2000.

2.When we look at immigrants from all of Spanish-speaking Latin America, immigrants from these countries increased increased from 37 percent to 46 percent of the total foreign-born population during the 1990s. More than 60 percent of the growth in the foreign-born population nationally in the 1990s came from immigrants from Spanish-speaking Latin America.

3. In some states, the increase in the proportion of immigrants from Mexico was particularly dramatic: in Arizona, immigrants from Mexico grew from 55 percent to 67 percent of the foreign born population and in Texas the number of Mexican immigrants grew from 59 to 65 percent of the total number of foreign born.

1.Information excerpted by Diversity Resources, Inc. from U. S. Census Bureau Reports, March 2004; Where Immigrants Live? : An Examination of State Residency of the Foreign Born by Country of Origin in 1990 and 2000, by Steven A. Camarota aand Nora McCardle ( Center for Immigration Studies, Washington, DC) September 2003

2. The definitions of "immigrant" and "foreign born" in this study are the same as that used by the Census Bureau. The foreign born are persons living in the United States who were not U.S. citizens at birth. This includes naturalized American citizens, legal permanent residents (green card holders), illegal aliens, and those on long-term temporary visas such as students or guest workers.

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