By 2050 Racial and Ethnic Minorities Will Comprise 50% of the U.S.

U.S. Census Bureau estimates for 2005 indicated that 33 percent of the total population of the United States was a member of a racial or ethnic minority group. In addition 45 percent of children under the age of five were minorities at the time.

It is projected that by the year 2050 racial and ethnic minorities will comprise 50% of the U.S. population, however, 2007 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show that about 10 percent (302) of the country’s 3,141 counties have already passed that mark.

Remarkably, in 2007, 43 percent of people under age 20 were racial and ethnic minorities, and there were 489 counties—about one in seven counties nationwide—where minorities made up at least 50 percent of the youth population. An additional 274 counties had minority youth population between 40 percent and 50 percent, meaning that minority youth make up at least 40 percent of the under 20 population in nearly one in four counties in the U.S.

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http://www.prb.org/Articles/2006/IntheNewsUSPopulationIsNowOneThirdMinority.aspx, June 17, 2010
http://www.prb.org/Articles/2008/majority-minority.aspx, June 17, 2010
http://www.prb.org/Articles/2008/majority-minority.aspx, June 17, 2010