US Demographic Landscape Shifts

Once again the so-called ‘extremists’ were right

White populations have declined in more than half of the USA’s counties since 2000, helping fuel a rise in the number of communities where minorities are now the majority, an analysis of 2007 Census estimates released today shows.

The data reflect how immigration, a population boom among Hispanics and the slowing growth of an aging population of whites are reshaping the nation’s demographic landscape.

Though whites are 66% of the population nationwide, “it’s kind of a zero sum game. Hispanic and Asians are growing nationally and they can spread out,” Frey says.Because the white population is growing very slowly, whites leaving many communities are not replaced by other whites. At the same time, the white population continues to grow rapidly in many Sun Belt counties.Continue…

2008-08-07