All Articles Tagged "demographics"
Cities Which Have Gained and Lost The Most African-Americans
A lot can happen in a decade and from 2000-2010, events like 9/11 and the economic recession certainly molded how people lived their lives. Opportunity and safety are big determinants in the decision-making process that goes into deciding where to settle for many families. As was touted in the media as of late, the past decade saw a reverse migration on the part of African-Americans who looked the South for stability and promise, with the exception of New Orleans which obviously lost many Black residents because of the long-felt effects of Katrina. Check out who lost and who gained the most African-American residents.
Source: U.S. Census
Top 5 Decliners
New Orleans
-95,539
8 Big Cities Where Minorities Are The Majority
Well, it’s not surprising news that the white population in America is dwindling but the Tea Party, the KKK and other fear-promoting groups may just jump at the new demographic data recently released by the Brookings Institute. In 1990, minorities were more than half the population in 5 of the largest 100 metropolitan areas. Today, minorities compose over half the population in 22 of the largest metro areas. Hispanic and Asian populations are the driving force behind these dramatic changes, especially in the Western region. African-Americans are constitute a less significant factor as immigration and birth rates among Asians and Latinos signify a source of the population growth of minorities overall. Check out which cities are now dominated by minorities as reported by the Brookings Institute.
Washington, D.C.
Minorities Now the Official Majority in DC Area
(Washington Post) — Washington is among eight big-city metropolitan regions in which minorities became a majority in the past decade, according to a new analysis of census data showing white population declines in many of the largest metro areas. Along with Washington, the regions surrounding New York, San Diego, Las Vegas and Memphis have become majority-minority since 2000. Non-Hispanic whites are a minority in 22 of the country’s 100-biggest urban areas. The white population shrank in raw numbers in 42 of those big-city regions. But every large metro area showed a decline in the percentage of whites. The shifts reflect the aging of the white population as more people get beyond their childbearing years and the relative youth of the Hispanic and Asian populations fueling most of the growth.
More Latinos Headed to College Than Blacks
(Washington Post) — Hispanics surpassed blacks in 2010 to become the second-largest racial or ethnic group of young adults in America’s colleges, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data. The number of Hispanic college students ages 18 to 24 rose by a remarkable 24 percent in one year, to 1.8 million, according to a report released Thursday by the Pew Hispanic Center. The federal Current Population Survey found 7.7 million white college students in that age group, 1.7 million black students and 800,000 Asian Americans. Black students still outnumber Hispanics in the overall college population, which includes older adults.
As Redistricting Looms, Legislators Face Anxiety, or Even Extinction
(New York Times) — Only a few months ago, Ann Marie Buerkle was something of a sensation, a political outsider who rode a wave of antiestablishment fervor to unexpectedly capture a House seat in upstate New York. Yet her fledgling political career may not last long. Ms. Buerkle’s district, in the Syracuse area, suddenly faces the possibility of being wiped off the political map, with senior members in both parties viewing it as one of the House seats that the state could eliminate as its Congressional membership shrinks to 27 from 29. Faced with that prospect, Ms. Buerkle, a Republican, has been reaching out to political leaders to discuss the fate of her district. “She is seeing the writing on the wall,” a senior Republican close to her campaign said. Ms. Buerkle’s plight underscores the peril and panic caused by redistricting, the once-a-decade process of reshaping voting maps to reflect the shifts in population recorded in the census.
Slower Racial Change Found in Census of City
(New York Times) — New York City edged a baby step closer to racial equilibrium in the last decade, according to census results released this month. Compared with the 1990s, the numbers of Hispanic and Asian New Yorkers grew more slowly; blacks recorded their first population loss since the Civil War; and non-Hispanic whites, who registered their smallest population loss in decades, also logged the biggest gains of any group among young children. As a result, according to the 2010 census, the city was 33 percent non-Hispanic white, 29 percent Hispanic, 23 percent black and 13 percent Asian. In 2000, the city’s makeup was 35 percent non-Hispanic white, 27 percent Hispanic, 25 percent black and 10 percent Asian.
Diversity Reigns in Prince George's County
(The Grio) — Prince George’s County is the most racially diverse county in Maryland, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau figures cited in the Baltimore Business Journal. Minority groups account for 80.8 percent of the residents of Prince George’s County, according to the report.
Census Shows Decline in Black Kids in Big Cities
(AP) — A catastrophic flood emptied New Orleans of much of its black youth. Powerful social forces may be doing a similar thing to places like Harlem and Chicago’s South Side. Over the past decade, the inner-city neighborhoods that have served for generations as citadels of African-American life and culture have been steadily draining of black children. Last year’s census found that the number of black, non-Hispanic children living in New York City had fallen by 22.4 percent in 10 years. In raw numbers, that meant 127,058 fewer black kids living in the city of Jay Z and Spike Lee, even as the number of black adults grew slightly. The same pattern has repeated from coast to coast. Los Angeles saw a 31.8 percent decline in its population of black children, far surpassing the 6.9 percent drop in black adults. The number of black children in Atlanta fell by 27 percent. It was down 31 percent in Chicago and 37.6 percent in Detroit. Oakland, Calif. saw a drop of 42.3 percent, an exodus that fell only 6 percentage points below the decline in flood-ravaged New Orleans.
New Gerber Babies Reflect Rainbow of Racial Diversity
By Alexis Garrett Stodghill
On the heels of reports that America has more minority than white babies for the first time, the Gerber baby food company has decided to revise its iconic logo. The infant that has represented its brand for decades will be expanded from being a single Caucasian tot into a rainbow of kids of multiple hues. Gerber has recognized that changing racial demographics require new marketing tactics, demonstrating a growing trend in diversifying that will extend to politics and eduction. More on the impetus behind this evolution from ABC News:
“The idea where we had a white, middle-class population that we talked about in the 1950s and 1960s, that’s disappearing,” said William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institute.
The new generation is still in the cradle, but as the infants grow up America will start to look very different.
Already, the trend lines are becoming clearer: Older Americans are whiter. Younger Americans are more non-white.
Most of the change is being driven by a surging Latino population with a much higher birth rate than any other ethnic group. It is further bolstered by legal immigration.
In fact, 50% of the growth in America’s population between 2000 and 2010 was due to the rapid population expansion of Latinos. At close to 50 million, Latinos are now the largest minority group in the U.S., outpacing African-Americans at 38 million. Whites are still in the vast majority, representing 72% of the population and 223 million — but times are changing.
When today’s crop of babies reach maturity near the year 2042, researchers theorize that America’s majority population will be absolutely non-white — but with Latinos leading the change. This means our tradition of seeing race in terms of “black and white” must be questioned. Just as Gerber is changing it’s longstanding image to include more races, blacks and whites must learn to see cultural relations in this country in a multi-faceted light.
Many whites have resisted accepting Latinos as “real” Americans, as numerous anti-immigration campaigns nationwide illustrate, but African-Americans might be stubborn as well. Can blacks adjust to the idea of no longer being the most prominent minority group? That is the inevitable question. How we answer it will have serious implications for blacks politically and socially leading up to 2042.
Losing our power as the main minority will feel difficult, but as there is no choice we should plan to work with Latinos as their political clout swells. This is a piece of cultural capital worth investing in.
Census: White Babies Outnumbered; Black Female-Headed Households Exceed Married
(AP) — For the first time, minorities make up a majority of babies in the U.S., part of a sweeping race change and a growing age divide between mostly white, older Americans and predominantly minority youths that could reshape government policies. Preliminary census estimates also show the share of African-American households headed by women — mostly single mothers — now exceeds African-American households with married couples, a sign of declining U.S. marriages overall but also of continuing challenges for black youths without involved fathers. The findings, based on the latest government data, offer a preview of final 2010 census results being released this summer that provide detailed breakdowns by age, race and householder relationships. Demographers say the numbers provide the clearest confirmation yet of a changing social order, one in which racial and ethnic minorities will become the U.S. majority by midcentury.
