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6.24.2011

minority babies are now the majority in the u.s.

More census data revelations... For the first time, minorities make up a majority of babies in the United States, reflecting the current and future changing face of America. This isn't all that surprising. You knew a minority/majority flip was coming, and the babies are leading the charge: 'Cultural generation gap': Most US babies are minorities, census shows.
The preliminary figures are based on an analysis of the Current Population Survey as well as the 2009 American Community Survey, which sampled 3 million U.S. households to determine that whites made up 51 percent of babies younger than 2. After taking into account a larger-than-expected jump in the minority child population in the 2010 census, the share of white babies falls below 50 percent.

Twelve states and the District of Columbia now have white populations below 50 percent among children under age 5 — Hawaii, California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Maryland, Georgia, New Jersey, New York and Mississippi. That's up from six states and the District of Columbia in 2000.

At current growth rates, seven more states could flip to "minority-majority" status among small children in the next decade: Illinois, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, South Carolina and Delaware.

By contrast, whites make up the vast majority of older Americans — 80 percent of seniors 65 and older and roughly 73 percent of people ages 45-64. Many states with high percentages of white seniors also have particularly large shares of minority children, including Arizona, Nevada, California, Texas and Florida.
I'm sure this information is quite scary to somebody, somewhere. (You know who you are.) No need for alarm. But this is what's happening.