The Minority Majority Has Arrived

The first cohorts of Americans in which minorities are the majority have appeared on the scene, according to the Census Bureau's 2011 estimates of the population by age, race, and Hispanic origin. Among the nation's infants and one-year-olds, non-Hispanic whites are less than half the population, marking a symbolic turning point in the nation's identity.

The Census Bureau's 2011 population estimates, released early this morning, show that fewer than 50 percent of children under age 2 are non-Hispanic white. By single year of age, the non-Hispanic white share of the population ranges from a high of 85.7 percent among 93-year-olds to a low of 49.6 percent among infants under age 1. More than one in four infants (26 percent) are Hispanic, 19 percent are black (alone or in combination) and 7 percent are Asian (alone or in combination). Overall, 63.4 percent of the U.S. population was non-Hispanic white on July 1, 2011, down from 63.8 percent one year earlier.

The Census Bureau reports that non-Hispanic whites now account for fewer than half of births, which is why the nation's youngest children are now minority majority. Between July 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011, non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of the 4,008,000 babies born that year.

Source: Census Bureau, Population Estimates