Hispanics Account for More than Half of Nation's Growth
The 2010 Census counted 50.5 million Hispanics in the United States, making up 16.3% of the total population. The nation’s Latino population, which was 35.3 million in 2000, grew 43% over the decade. The Hispanic population also accounted for most of the nation’s growth—56%—from 2000 to 2010.
Among children ages 17 and younger, there were 17.1 million Latinos, or 23.1% of this age group, according to an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. The number of Latino children grew 39% over the decade. In 2000, there were 12.3 million Hispanic children, who were 17.1% of the population under age 18.
There were 33.3 million Hispanics ages 18 and older in 2010, a 45% increase from 2000. Hispanics made up 14.2% of the adult population in 2010, compared with 11% and 23 million people in 2000.
Racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 91.7% of the nation’s growth over the decade; non-Hispanic whites accounted for the remaining 8.3%.
Hispanics, who can be of any race, are the nation’s largest minority group. Looking at the major groups of single-race non-Hispanics in 2010, 196.8 million (63.7%) were white; 37.7 million (12.2%) were black; and 14.5 million (4.7%) were Asian. There were 6 million non-Hispanics, or 1.9% of the U.S. population, who checked more than one race.
By race, more than half of Hispanics—53%, or 26.7 million people—identified themselves as white alone, an increase from 2000 when 47.9% did. The next largest group, 36.7% or 18.5 million Hispanics, identified themselves as “some other race,” a decline from 2000, when 42.2% did. An additional 6%, compared with 6.3% in 2000, checked multiple races.
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